


Entanglement, or the Ghost Field

by dracox_serdriel



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Supernatural
Genre: Be Careful What You Wish For, Campers Beware, Camping, Character Death, Crossover, Doppelganger, Explicit Language, F/M, Fairies, Fire, Freedom, Gen, Ghosts, Haunting, Horror, Love Lost - Freeform, Love and Loss, Madness, Mauve Alert, Parallel Universes, Possession, Quantum Mechanics, Recordings, Recycling, Salt, Search and Rescue, Shotguns, Sonic Screwdriver, Spirits, TARDIS - Freeform, Temporal Distortion, The Old Parkman School, The Trine, The Tyler Mansion, Time Echoes, Time Lords, Torchwood - Freeform, Transformation, Transmutation, Traps, Trickster - Freeform, UNIT, Violence, WAFF, Wishes, Zolfo Springs, handy - Freeform, past and future, pocket universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-04
Updated: 2013-12-04
Packaged: 2018-01-03 10:28:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 41,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1069401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracox_serdriel/pseuds/dracox_serdriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mauve alert attracts the attention of The Metacrisis Doctor and Rose Tyler, who investigate as UNIT and Torchwood employees. The Winchesters get a call from a woman who claims her doppelganger has just died in the Trine, an area of rural Florida with so many ghost stories and odd phenomenon that people named it after the Bermuda Triangle. What they think is just a basic shifter/spirit problem turns out to be an entire world of horrors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Helicity

**Author's Note:**

> **Illustrations** : [Illustrations for Entanglement](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2471048) (Warning: Illustrations contain spoilers for all chapters.)
> 
>  **Supernatural Spoilers** : All episodes through 07x19 "Of Grave Importance"  
>  **Doctor Who Spoilers** : All reboot episodes through 04x18 "The End of Time, Part 2"; Short spoilers from 06x08 "Let's Kill Hitler"
> 
> Special thanks to my Beta Reader, [Rince1wind](http://rince1wind.livejournal.com/)

**The Old Parkman School, Zolfo Springs, Florida**. The Doctor stepped carefully through the hallway. The floor seemed stable enough, but the entire building gave off odd readings. Even the air _tasted_ wrong.

The hall was empty, but footprints were layered all over the floor. He became very aware of the thumping of his heart; even after a year, the single heart thing still threw him. 

Rose was suddenly at his elbow. "You hear that?" 

He concentrated. "I can't make out what they're saying," he replied. 

"Hold on," she replied. "American accents. Two men, sounds like."

"What're they saying?"

She squinted as she strained to hear. "One says, 'Haven't seen so many ghosts in one place since that asylum in Illinois...'"

He asked, "Can you tell where it's – "

"Shh," Rose cut him off. "There's more. 'Think about it, the Morton House, the Van Ness House, both had big bad beastie boy leaders.' I think he's being serious," she added. "Oi, there's more. Different voice... he's saying something like, 'That doesn't explain the doppelganger thing.'"

"Rose?" The Doctor prompted.

"Sorry, that's all I can make out," she said. 

"Better then me," he replied. "I blame these things," he added, tugging on his left ear. "Human hearing is rubbish."

"Don't knock it," she said simply. "You ever think it's the Time Lord, not the human?" 

For a moment, he considered it. "Nah! So, two Americans chatting about spirits?"

"And doppelgangers," Rose replied. "Does it mean anything to you?"

"Well..." The Doctor began. "Haven't the foggiest. I mean, two strange Americans? That's one thing. Two disembodied voices echoing around in a very off building? Could be anything. Literally. Isn't that fantastic?"

She smiled at his surge of enthusiasm. "I hear something else. From over here. Someone's talking in this room."

She knocked. There was no response. The door opened with a tiny _pop!_

As soon as they stepped inside, they spotted a tall tripod topped with a digital camera. It was difficult to tell, but the camera seemed to be playing something recorded in the very same room.

The Doctor gravitated to it. A young woman's face was haphazardly displayed on screen. 

_...in the Old Parkman School. We set out on April eighth two thousand fourteen. I'm not sure how long I've been here... the others went out while I was unconscious, and they're not back. Can't tell what time it is from the window._

The woman held up an analog pocket watch to show the time and date.

_My watch says it's twenty-three past three o'clock in the afternoon, but it also says it's still April the eighth, and that can't be right. But it's still ticking, so add that to the pile of weird._

"Doctor," Rose whispered. "Look at this."

She held up her detector, which rapidly changed time and date, as if it couldn't decide. "What could be causing that?" she asked. 

"Temporal distortions." 

"But that takes energy," Rose pointed out, "and the only thing in this room is a camera run on double-A batteries."

"I don't know how," The Doctor replied. "Something to do with the geography amplifies whatever's happening here." He examined his own detector, which continued to change rapidly, as if the air composition was in constant fluctuation. "And let's just say, I'm very glad I'm only half Time Lord now."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that."

"Otherwise, I'd likely be unconscious or seizing. Or both."

A shout broke his thought; a familiar voice echoed from down the hall. 

"Rose! JD! Help!"

The Doctor took Rose's hand, and together they ran out of the room.

 

 **The previous day, outside of Charlotte, North Carolina**. Dean waited out by the Impala as Sam acquired the usual road food at easily one of the scruffiest gas stations they'd seen yet. Keeping off Dick Roman's radar became harder every day.

Dean examined Bobby's flask. The old man hadn't reappeared yet, which was no surprise given how the brothers had reacted to his ghostly disposition. Still, Dean could use Bobby's advice, no matter how dead he was. He popped it open, hoping Bobby would genie his way out, but no such luck.

His musing was interrupted by an odd ringtone. He scrambled through the various hideaways in the Impala. Finally, he yanked out an ancient burner phone he kept charged for Bobby's non-hunter contacts, which consisted almost exclusively of people he had saved. The phone read R. E. KOZLOWSKI. It was a _recognized_ number. That couldn't be good.

"Hello?" Dean answered. 

"Sorry, hi, I'm looking for Singer," a woman said. "Uh, Robert Singer."

"You mean Bobby?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Sorry, he can't answer the phone, maybe I can help," Dean said. 

"No, it needs to be Bobby Singer," she said. "He's never met me, but he knows my uncle, Randy Kozlowski, from about seven years ago."

"Bobby Singer died a few months ago," Dean replied harshly. 

"No," she whispered quietly. "He was the only one – "

"He left me with his phone for a reason," Dean cut her off. "So try me."

"You know what? What the hell? Fine. Yesterday, a woman named Dawn Redding died in the hospital from a severe beating."

"And?" 

"And? You don't get it. _I'm_ Dawn Redding, and I'm not dead," she replied simply. "The doctors are saying I have a long-lost twin, but I don't."

"We talking like a doppelganger?"

"I don't know, but there's something else," Dawn said. "A few days ago, in the Trine – "

"The what?" Dean interrupted. 

"The Trine. Guess it's a local thing. Nickname, for a stretch of wilderness. It's always given me a bad feeling... anyway, that's not the point. I went with some friends to survey it for filming, and I saw... something."

"Care to elaborate?" 

She hesitated. "Have you ever heard of a waff?"

"Uh, only in the context of a chick that's too skinny."

"It's a death omen. Your own ghost appears to you. That's what I saw. I saw myself, and – " 

"Then your long-lost twin shows up dead a few days later," Dean completed. "Huh."

"There's more," Dawn offered quietly. "The woman who died? She had a digital camera on her. She recorded most of the day before she died. And it's weird."

"What kind of weird?" 

"Weirder than seeing a waff," Dawn replied. "The kind of weird that got me to believe my crazy uncle's story about how he and some other man killed a shape shifter."

"Right, well," Dean said. "That sounds like us."

"Us?"

"Yeah, I don't work alone," Dean replied. "Where are you? We can head your way now."

 

 **The Old Parkman School, Zolfo Springs, Florida**. Dean and Sam followed the main hallway, finally ending up in a large, lobby-like room. Dawn Redding had called this place "The Old Parkman School," but it had clearly been modified to work as a temporary inn shelter or camp center.

"See anything?" Dean asked.

"No, and I can't hear anything anymore either," Sam replied. "But I definitely heard someone from over here."

Dean started when a ripple of cold caught his chest. Distant voices rose as the temperature dropped.

"Best guess is they're overlapping, which is very not good," a male voice said. He had a British accent. "Well, could be okay. Well, not really. Well, in certain scenarios, controlled conditions, this could be considered a kind of laboratory, but in this case? Ehhhh..."

"Very bad," a woman said. She also had a British accent. "But it's gotta be more than that. I mean, temperature fluctuations, and look at this place."

"What about it?" the man asked.

"The walls and the doors," the woman said. "They're all wrong."

Dean glanced at Sam. The entire room was empty, so who was talking? The temperature plummeted dramatically, and dozens of translucent figures flickered in tune with the lights. Before either one of them could speak, everything returned to normal.

"Holy crap," Dean whispered. "What the hell was that?"

A kind of whistling interrupted Sam's reply. "That's coming from outside," Sam said.

Dean took the nearest door with Sam in his wake. The sound was coming from the other side of the building, so they rounded the perimeter.

Neither of them noticed the odd, square-shaped man who blundered into the lobby after them. His light, grey eyes swept the room. 

"Hello?" the man said. "Hello?"

"Slade?" another voice asked. He recognized the voice. "Is that you?"

"Paramjeet?" Slade asked. 

He spotted her as she stumbled into the lobby, her skin pale and her clothing covered in mud and blood. Slade helped her over to a large sofa near the center of the room.

"What happened?" he asked. 

"I... where? I..." she began. 

"Rose! JD!" Slade shouted to the building at large. "Rose! JD! Help!"

It only took them a hot minute to respond. Rose and The Doctor went straight to the sofa. 

"Agent Bindiya?" Rose asked.

"Told you, it's Jeet," she replied. "Didn't get far. It was too dark."

The Doctor draped Jeet with blankets for the shock. He did a quick once-over and spotted a head wound.

"I'm fine," she said. "Not injured."

"Then why are you covered in blood?" The Doctor asked. 

Jeet was shaking, but she continued, "They're outside. You need to go, now. They're out front."

"Oi, Slade, Rose," The Doctor said. "You need to stay with her, make sure she's warm, right?"

As soon as The Doctor left, Rose nodded to Slade and followed after him.

 

 **One hour earlier in Zolfo Springs, Florida**. Paramjeet Bindiya felt uneasy. Her entire body was on full alert, but she didn't know why. Part of her discomfort came from leaving the Torchwood agents alone, even for an hour, but there was something else bothering her. And that was before the car's electrical systems had crapped out and left them stranded on a dirt road.

The would-be search party in her backseat didn't hesitate to complain. Gwen, Molly, and Vince had only agreed to leave after Jeet threatened to arrest them. Twice. And now the car wouldn't start. 

"Please tell me this is a bad joke," Gwen said. "I mean, car breaking down at night on a dirt road."

"It's four in the afternoon," Jeet objected. 

Then she realized what had been bothering her. In the fifteen minutes since they left the Old Parkman School, it had gone from partially cloudy, afternoon sunlight to near-dusk darkness. 

"I know some fancy government agency wants us to leave," Gwen began, "but there's clearly a storm blowing in out there. A bad one. It'll take us half a day to hike out to the main road in good weather. We should go back to the school till daylight."

"You're gonna kill me," a male voice said.

Jeet jolted. She immediately turned to the only male person in the car, Vince. The voice spoke again, "You. You're the one. You're gonna kill me."

But Vince's lips weren't moving. His blue eyes flitted from Molly to Jeet in confusion, and he ran his fingers through his dirty blond hair nervously. 

"What?" Vince asked, finally put off by Jeet's staring. 

"Sorry, thought you were gonna say something," Jeet said. 

Molly squeezed Vince's hand and broke the awkward tension, "So, are we leaving?" 

"Uh, yes," Jeet replied. "You're right, Gwen. We'll head back to the Old Parkman School till there's light to hike out." 

Without another word, the four exited the car and unloaded their equipment. Vince and Molly suited up together, stepping out of the way to steal a few romantic moments before they trooped out.

Jeet glanced up to gauge how much time they had. "Can't be a storm. No clouds."

"Gotta be," Gwen said tentatively. "If there're no clouds, then where are all the stars? And it's suppose to be a Gibbous Moon tonight."

"I'll take that to mean you expect it to be in the sky?" Jeet asked. 

Gwen nodded. 

"We should get moving," Jeet said firmly.

"Well, let's hurry this up, then," Gwen said. She raised her voice and added, "That means you two!"

Molly and Vince sheepishly broke apart from a kiss. Gwen handed off the flashlight to Jeet. 

"You can get us back?" Gwen asked. Jeet nodded. "Then I'll take up the rear."

Everything Jeet had heard about the Trine seemed true. The air was fresh and clear, but apprehension settled over her. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself outside in a beautiful forest, but as soon as she opened them, all she saw was the dust and the mud and the shadows. The word 'haunted' didn't quite cover it; it was more like 'tainted' or 'permeated.'

But for all the faults of the day, the return hike was uneventful. They were in the school's clearing when Jeet noticed the odd, high-pitched whining issuing from somewhere nearby. 

"What is that?" she asked, turning back to the others. "Where's Vince?" she added.

Molly looked down at her left hand, as if she thought she was still holding his. Her eyes glazed over. "I, uh," she said. "He was right here. He went a little to the left..."

Jeet prompted, "And?"

"You asked me where he was, and he wasn't here anymore," Molly finished lamely. Her confusion was palpable, like she couldn't shake it off.

"He could've just gone to take a leak," Gwen said. "Vince is an experienced hiker. He knows what he's doing. Once he's done he'll make his way back to us."

"You were bringing up the rear," Jeet said to Gwen. "Didn't you see him go?"

But Gwen wasn't listening. "That noise, it's like ringing in the ears," she said. "It's very distracting."

"You mean annoying," Jeet said.

"Or creepy," Molly said.

For a few moments, they waited under the too-black sky as the whine ramped up. 

"It's coming from over there," Gwen said. "By the school."

"We should wait for Vince," Molly said. 

"Molly," Gwen warned. "He's fine. He knew where we were going, and we've got flashlights. Hell, he might've just gone ahead after he took care of business."

"But, he just..." Molly started weakly.

Jeet took control. "Okay, we can check it out. Stay close. I mean within an arm's length, you understand?"

They made their way to the east side of the school. The whine was now more of a screech vibrating through the air. They followed it to the old garden, which was little more than a few odd trees that lined the front of the school.

The aura of disquiet had gotten to all of them, but they kept close together till they couldn't follow the noise anymore.

After a few moments of stillness, Molly began twisting and turning, searching for any sign of Vince. 

Finally, she yelled, "Vince! Come on! Where are you? Vince! Vince! Come on! Where are you?"

"He's probably already inside," Gwen said tersely.

Molly lost her nerve. She moved away blindly, only to be grabbed by Gwen. A brief but furious struggle ensued, ending with Molly crashing into Jeet and throwing her bodily into a tree. Sap coated her face, hands, pants, and shirt. 

Gwen helped Jeet get back to her feet. "Sorry, sorry, this place, it's just – "

"Vince!" Molly yelled over and over again. 

"Don't worry about it," Jeet said to Gwen. "They been together long?"

"Best friends since childhood, got together a few years ago," Gwen replied discreetly. "Still attached at the hip. Actually, that's one of the reasons Vince and Molly are the best search and rescue team I've – Jeet, is that yours?" 

"My what?" Jeet asked. 

"Your...blood."

"No," she said, realizing it wasn't sap that she had gotten on her. "Uh, no."

Gwen swallowed hard as she considered the worse case scenario. "Vince," she whispered. 

"Don't jump to conclusions," Jeet said. She indicated Molly, who was still yelling for Vince. "Especially not with her."

"Then what?" Gwen asked. 

"We should get inside," Jeet said. "The others that were with me? We find them. They can help us find Vince." 

Gwen approached Molly to wrangle her. Jeet wanted to join them, but her legs felt heavy and her heart raced, causing her face to flush. Then she felt clammy and weak. Maybe she'd hit her head when she fell. Her gaze drifted up, and she spotted a pack similar to Molly's, torn and frayed, dangling off a short limb.

"You two!" Jeet shouted. "Get inside!"

Neither responded, and Jeet couldn't wait any longer. Her entire body felt unstable and weak. They needed help. She stumbled as she made her way into the school.

 

 **Just outside the Old Parkman School in Zolfo Springs, Florida**. Sam and Dean Winchester rounded on the garden and spotted two women. 

"Didn't you talk to those two?" Sam asked Dean.

"Told them to haul ass outa here," Dean replied. 

Sam made his way over to them with a friendly demeanor. "Hello," he said. "You two need some help?"

"Our friend is missing," Gwen said. "We – " 

"What's that noise?" Dean asked. "I've got nada on EMF, and I don't hear anything moving."

Sam had already pieced a scenario together, and it wasn't good. He turned to his brother, "Why don't you take these two inside?"

The Doctor and Rose ran out of the school, yelling "Gwen! Molly!" 

"Who the hell are you?" Dean asked.

Before The Doctor could reply, his detector went into high alert, reporting drastic shifts in time and matter. "This isn't good," he said to Rose. "Very not good."

"Wow, that's really helpful," Dean said sarcastically. "Anything more specific than 'not good'?"

Rose glowered at Dean. "We came out here to find three people," she said. She turned to Gwen and Molly. "Where's Vince?"

"We're not sure," Gwen replied.

"It's not like him to wander off. He should've been back by now. He's probably injured or his vision's been compromised – " Molly began. 

"Please, just, calm down," Sam interrupted gently. "We can help you find your friend."

The Doctor scanned Gwen and Molly for vitals. Then he went to the tree, first analyzing it with the detector, then running his sonic screwdriver over it.

"I thought it didn't work on wood," Rose whispered to him.

"It's not the wood I'm interested in," The Doctor replied.

"Jeet had blood on her," Rose said. "But it wasn't hers. Do you know where it came from?"

"We had a bit of a tussle," Molly admitted. "She fell into that tree that he's... uh, what is your friend doing to that tree?"

"Right," The Doctor said dramatically. "Shall we get these people inside? Eh, Rose?"

"Yeah," Sam added. "Dean, why don't you and Rose here take, uh, sorry, what were your names again?"

"Gwen and Molly," Gwen replied. 

"Take Gwen and Molly here inside," Sam completed. "While me and – "

"JD, he's called," Rose said. 

"Okay, JD and I will look for Vince," Sam finished.

Dean leaned into his brother. "Dude? What the hell?"

"Trust me," Sam whispered back. "Besides, who would you rather deal with? Blue pinstripe suit here, or – "

"The hot blond," Dean cut his brother off. "No contest."

Luckily, Rose had closed in on The Doctor, so neither of them could hear the Winchesters. 

"I'm not leaving you out here alone," Rose said. 

"I won't be alone, that tall guy will be with me," The Doctor said, indicating the wrong FBI agent.

"It's Sam," Sam said. 

Rose bit her lip. "Fine, but be careful," she said to The Doctor. She turned to the Winchesters. "Dean, is it?" she asked.

Dean nodded and flashed her a smile. Gwen and Molly went ahead, and Dean and Rose followed them into the school. 

As soon as the others were out of an earshot, Sam pointed up. "I'm guessing you saw that."

"Saw what?" 

"That gear," Sam said. "About fifteen feet up."

"That explains it," The Doctor said as he moved around quickly, taking readings from the other trees.

"Explains what?"

The Doctor hesitated. "You really want to know?"

"People's lives are at stake."

"This tree wasn't here when we came in. That was, ohh, less than an hour ago."

"So, you're saying this tree, what, moved here?" Sam asked incredulously. 

"That would be ridiculous," The Doctor dismissed. "I'm saying this tree germinated and grew to this size in, oh, about ten or fifteen minutes."

"Right, that's not ridiculous at all." 

"Not with this amount of temporal distortion." 

Sam changed the topic. "The blood. The pack. I think it's fair to say, whatever's going on with this tree, we can add Vince being dragged up to a high branch to that list."

The Doctor spotted another blip on his scanner. "You're half right."

"I can climb up and try to get him. You spot me – I've got a gun that – "

"No guns," The Doctor interrupted. 

"They're just salt rounds," Sam replied. 

"No guns, and no one's climbing up that tree," The Doctor asserted. "No one should even touch it. And anyone that has needs to be checked."

"He could still be alive."

"I'm sorry, he's not."

"What makes you say that?" Sam asked. 

"That noise," The Doctor said. "Do you know what it is?"

"No, maybe birds?"

"'Fraid not. It's a scream. Vince's scream, to be precise. He got caught in a particularly powerful temporal distortion. One which even sound can't escape properly. Not for lack of trying, obviously. That man's scream is leaking through from about two hundred years ago. Well, two hundred years ago in a time-distorted field around this tree. Well, one hundred seventy-seven, judging by the degradation of the acoustic oscillations."

Sam said, "So what you're saying is that Vince died two centuries ago, even though the blood right here, which is his, is still warm."

"'Course his blood is still warm," The Doctor replied mildly. "After all, he was here less than ten minutes ago. What's more disturbing is he died almost two centuries past, and we can still hear him screaming."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Helicity** (Particle Physics)  
>        n. projection of the spin of a subatomic particle onto the direction of its momentum


	2. Gallows Pole

Slade checked Jeet's pulse. "You seem better," Slade commented. 

"I feel like an idiot," Jeet said. "Like I've never seen blood before or had it on me."

"I think we both know it's more than that," Slade replied. "I've been collecting stories about this place for over a decade. It's not all ghosts and spooky campfire stuff."

"You think you'd be the last person here," Jeet said. "If you know all about this place."

"You're telling me?" he replied.

Rose, Molly, Gwen, and Dean trooped in, their breath visibly rising as soon as they crossed the threshold of the lobby.

"Crap," Dean said, pulling a canister out of his bag. "Everyone! Get over by the sofa with those other two!" He indicated Slade and Jeet. "Now!"

"What're you gonna do? Blow something up?" Rose asked.

"You wanna help? Take this, make a circle around that sofa," he said as he tossed her a canister of salt. 

"Seriously?" Rose asked.

Dean didn't answer; he started the salt line and moved as quickly as possible. The ring needed to be big enough to contain all six of them, and he couldn't waste any because he only had four canisters. Rose hesitated at first, but after seeing Dean's dedication to the task at hand, she joined in. 

When the circle was complete, Dean pulled his bag and Rose over the line. He fumbled for an iron poker from his bag.

"Listen to me," Dean said. "Whatever happens, keep inside this circle. You understand? Keep inside the circle and _don't_ break the salt line. Can you all do that?"

"Who the hell are you?" Gwen asked. "Who is he?" she asked Rose.

"You don't remember?" he asked Gwen. "Dean. With the FBI. We met outside when the four of you were setting up camp." 

"Four of us?" Molly inquired. 

"You couldn't've," Jeet spoke up, still draped over the couch. "They hadn't set camp when we found them. I tried to drive them back to the station, but we had to turn back."

"Sam and I were the ones who warned you about dangerous animals in the area," Dean said, sizing Molly and Gwen up. "You agreed to pack up an leave."

"I've never seen you before in my life," Gwen said firmly. 

"To be continued," Dean said curtly. He didn't have time to consider the implications, not with the lights flickering and the temperature steadily dropping. 

"Why are we even listening to him?" Molly asked. 

"Because I'm trying to save your lives!" Dean replied. 

Then it happened. The lights gave one last rippling flicker and the room filled with odd shapes, gathering around the sofa, stopping at the line.

Each shape was a ghost, and each had a gaping wound or slash marks coupled with burns. They seemed to be soldiers. None of them were in uniform, exactly, but they all had some kind of protective gear along with empty quivers and sheaths.

"Who are you?" Rose asked the shapes calmly. 

Dozens of pupils swiveled to Rose, staring blankly as if they thought they could transmit their message straight from their eye sockets. 

"Well?" Rose said, moving closer. "What do you want?"

Dean put his hand on her shoulder. "Stay behind the salt line," he asserted. 

"Unarmed," several ghosts chimed. "Stuck and unarmed."

"Is that what you wanted?" Molly asked. "You wanted us here stuck and unable to defend ourselves?"

"Stuck," others repeated. "Stuck. Stuck. Stuck." It became a chant that shook the room. 

"What do you mean, 'stuck'?" Rose asked. "We can help you, but you need to explain."

Molly jolted. She asked, "Why're you acting like you can talk to these... _things_!"

Rose turned to her and said, "Whatever they are, they can speak. If they can speak, then they can think. And they clearly want something from us - "

"What if they want to kill us?" Gwen asked. 

"We're not unarmed," Dean said, indicating his iron poker. "And, as I've been trying to say, ghosts can't cross a salt line."

Dean continuously checked all around the line, but none of the ghosts made any attempt to break the line. None of them seemed violent, either. He didn't know what was going on, but dozens of ghosts gathering without a move? That was bad news on any day.

"Ghosts?" Gwen echoed. "You're saying these are ghosts?"

"He's right," a male voice spoke up. It was clearer than the others. "He's right."

Molly recognized the voice. "Vince? Where are you?" she asked.

"Can't you see me?" he asked.

The others shifted in unison, as if following orders, opening a straight path to a man near the hall. Their voices dropped to a whisper, but they continued to repeat, "Stuck. Unarmed. Stuck. Unarmed."

"Vince?" Molly asked, squinting her eyes. 

"Stuck," Vince said quietly. He began to approach. "Stuck and alone. It's cold."

"Tell me about it," Molly said, relief flooding her face as she smiled. 

"You don't understand," Vince said. "Cold. Dark. So high up, and it's cold and dark."

"What do you mean, high up?" Gwen asked Vince.

Molly was on the edge of the salt line, and Dean grabbed her. He could feel the temperature swinging back. The ghosts were on their way out, which meant he just needed to keep everyone calm for a little while longer. 

"Stay inside the circle," Dean warned.

"Why?" Molly asked. "They're not hurting Vince, are they?"

"That's not Vince," Dean replied. "Not anymore."

Molly shook her head. "Says who? You don't even know him!" she spat at Dean.

"Molly, I think you should listen to him," Rose said.

But she didn't. She shoved Dean away, hard, and stepped across the line in one smooth movement. She headed straight for Vince. "Come on, Vince, we've gotta find a place to wait out the night. Leave this lunatic behind."

Gwen started after Molly, so Dean grabbed for her, dropping the poker in the process. "Damn it!"

"Molly, come back!" Jeet raised her voice. 

"Stuck," Vince said. "Dark, cold." He began to repeat, like the others, "stuck, dark, cold" sounded over the slowly evaporating sound of "stuck, unarmed."

"Vince?" Molly asked as she finally got close enough to see him. "What – "

Vince's chest bore a gaping hole; his arms were barely attached to his body, and his face! No matter the words that passed from his lips, his face remained fixed in a scream of pain and terror.

"Vince," Molly whimpered as she shrank back, but she couldn't look away from his face. Everything she knew about Vince evaporated. His body didn't even seem solid anymore. 

"Molly! Get back to the circle!" Dean yelled. It took everything he had to hold Gwen back. She was built like a bear and had the ferocity of a tiger.

The other spirits wavered, and one by one they vanished, their voices echoing in despair. But Vince remained, and if anything, he seemed more solid, more real than he had before. He stepped toward Molly, who remained transfixed with wonder and fear.

"Molly! Run!" Rose yelled.

When she didn't respond, Rose snatched a canister and filled her palm with salt.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked, still using everything he had to keep Gwen in check.

Rose jumped the line and ran to Molly, throwing the salt at Vince. His body swirled into mist.

"Molly, come on," she said, taking her hand. "Molly? Can you hear me?"

"Get her back here!" Dean repeated. "You? Stay!" he snapped at Slade when he made a move to leave. "Just, stay!"

Rose didn't need to ask why. The temperature of the room had dropped again, and the lights flashed. 

"Molly, listen to me!" she said. "We've got to move. He's coming back."

"He's coming back," Molly echoed. "He's... if he's... only dead people can be ghosts. That means he's dead? But he can't be dead because he's coming back."

Rose began to drag Molly, but she was over six feet tall and had at least fifty pounds on Rose.

"Rose!" Dean warned.

She turned in time to see the broken and wispy image of Vince collect itself again. His arms swung at unnatural angles as he trapped Rose's wrist, yanking her to a stop.

"Dark. Cold. Stuck," Vince continued to repeat.

BANG! Vince's form spun into shadow and disappeared. Sam dropped his shotgun and moved quickly, lifting Molly to his shoulder. 

The Doctor went to Rose. She looked shocked in a way he'd never seen before. "You all right?" he asked quietly. 

"Yeah," she whispered. "Yeah, I'm all right. Come on."

Sam placed Molly on the couch next to Jeet just as The Doctor and Rose arrived. 

"Bit nippy in here, isn't it?" The Doctor asked. "Wasn't like that before."

"Drop in temperature and unexplained electronic interference," Sam said. "All signs of a seriously pissed-off ghost."

"More like forty," Dean said. 

"Forty?" Sam asked.

"Looked like soldiers."

Slade asked, "What about them looked like soldiers? They didn't have any camo or gear or – "

"No, they had quivers and sheaths," Dean cut him off. 

"So, what?" Slade prompted. "Time-traveling soldier ghosts?"

Dean rolled his eyes.

Sam replied, "Once a ghost clings to this life instead of moving on, they stick around till whatever's binding them here is ash. Usually it's their bones, their remains."

"Dead bodies decompose," Gwen said. 

"Well," The Doctor chimed in. "That takes time. And under certain conditions, human bones can last for hundreds, even thousands, of years."

"You're serious," Rose said to him. "About the ghosts?" 

"I don't know about the ghosts," The Doctor said. "But bones are comprised largely of minerals. Calcium phosphate. How long they last after death depends on the environment. Chemical makeup, atmospheric properties. That's how you lot dig up fossils from long-extinct species. The bones survived long enough for the minerals around them to create a cast, and that takes millions of years."

Slade's confusion was apparent. 

"So, you're saying they're not time-traveling ghosts," Rose said. "They're just normal ghosts." She paused for a moment. "Whatever that means."

"Sorry, can anyone tell us why we're standing in a circle of... some kind of condiment?" The Doctor asked. He stooped down, lick his finger, and gently dabbed the line. Then he tasted it. "Salt, right."

"Don't break the line," Sam said. 

"Ghosts can't cross a line of salt," Dean explained. "They can't touch iron, either."

"But if they've been around long enough and are angry enough," Sam began, "they can develop countermeasures."

"Ghostly countermeasures?" The Doctor asked. "Oh, I like that. Ghostly countermeasures. What would those be?"

"Harnessing natural forces, like the wind," Sam said, "or exerting enough force – usually with telekinetic power – to crack the floor. Both can break a salt line. Sometimes they can interact with the world physically. Inflicting their own wounds by a psychic connection, even using storms."

"We can count Vince as physical," Rose said. "He was strong." She held up her wrist to show the faint lines of bluish tinge etched into her flesh. "That's gonna bruise, that is."

The Doctor examined her wrist. "Oh, that's a live one."

"That's... Vince just died a few minutes ago. He shouldn't be that strong," Dean said.

"What do you mean, Vince is dead?" Gwen asked. "What the hell is going on?"

"I dunno," The Doctor said. "But it has to do with very unnatural temporal fluctuations."

"And it was more like two hundred years, apparently," Sam said to Dean. 

"Sam, that dude was just outside," Dean asserted. "Did you two figure out how he died?"

The Doctor and Sam exchanged looks. 

"If Vince is dead," Gwen said, "we have a right to know how. Especially Molly."

The Doctor hesitated for a moment. "The accelerated lifecycle of a tree intersected with him. Somehow the physical growth of the tree impaled his body from here and now – that was all the blood you found - and pulled him into its own distorted time field. That noise you heard? It was his scream, trapped, rippling back to this time."

Slade, Molly, and Gwen gaped at The Doctor and then at Sam, as if he could provide a better answer. Silence covered the room.

 

 **Thirteen hours ago in London, England**. During the Great Cyber War, the Tyler Mansion served as the unofficial base of the Preachers, who eventually became part of UNIT and Torchwood. The basement was full of alien gadgets and gizmos that various members of the Tyler family deemed too dangerous to be left in the hands of the government. 

So The Doctor had plenty of tinkering to do at home. He missed the TARDIS dearly, and there was nothing like her in this universe. She had been in his life for hundreds of years, and now The Doctor had only one heart and no TARDIS. It was a fitting parallel, if nothing else. Of course, he had things here that he never had in the other universe. He wondered if his newfound humanity contributed to his nostalgia or if this was just how people dealt with settling down after a life of wandering.

So on a night like this, when he couldn't sleep, he'd head down into the basement and tinker. It made him feel like he was back on the TARDIS, just a little.

"Doctor?" Rose's voice came down from the kitchen. "Doctor? Are you down there?"

"Is it morning already?" he yelled up.

Rose leaned down the stairs just far enough to see him decked out in his flame-retardant gear. 

"We've got a mauve alert," she said. "Better get that off, right?"

"Mauve alert?" The Doctor asked, his mind zooming through all the possibilities. "Really?"

"Let's just say, it had better be a mauve alert," she replied. "Since it just tossed me out of bed."

The Doctor struggled with the suit. A mauve alert was exciting and terrifying, and - why on Earth was this suit so impossible to get off in a hurry?

"I mean literally," Rose continued, coming down the stairs. "The bed actually threw me onto the floor."

"Oh, right, sorry," The Doctor said genuinely. "Designed to wake me up at any cost."

"You think you can remove the throwing you in the air bit?" she asked patiently. 

"Promise," he replied.

Rose took the wrists of his suit and held them in place so he could pull his arms out. 

"What would I do without you?" he asked fondly. 

"Go mad in a fire suit for one," Rose replied as she helped him out of the rest of his suit. "In your pajamas to boot."

"Well, I was just – "

"Doctor!" another voice echoed down the basement stairwell. "Doctor! Are you down there?"

"Yeah, Dad, we're down here," Rose replied.

"Oh, uh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," Pete said. "But Torchwood and UNIT are both calling. Frantically."

"Of course they are," The Doctor said to Rose. "Mauve alert. Who better to send?"

The Doctor and Rose climbed the stairs and found Pete waiting for them in the kitchen. 

Pete asked, "Do I want to know? What's a mauve alert?"

Rose and The Doctor traded glances, and he opened his mouth to reply.

"Oh, no you don't," Pete cut him off. "I know that look. That's the look you both get when he's about to lie to me."

The Doctor looked at Rose apologetically, and she started to reply. "You see, Dad – "

"And that's the look you two share when she's about to lie to me," Pete interrupted. 

"You're a bundle of laughs at two in the morning," The Doctor mused.

"Mauve is the universal color for danger," Rose replied.

"What happened to red?" Pete asked.

"Red is just humans," The Doctor replied. "Mauve doesn't just mean alien and dangerous. It means that the aliens themselves marked it as dangerous. Which means Rose and I are the best ones to check it out."

"Well, UNIT has that new transport – " Pete began.

"No," The Doctor interrupted. "Me and Rose. Soon as we know what it is, then we can call for the right equipment. Send too many people in with too many gadgets, it'll put us all at risk."

"You don't expect me to let you go without any UNIT forces," Pete replied. "And not just because you're my daughter," he added to Rose. "Torchwood would be tossed if I let you go off to your deaths."

"Trust us," Rose said. "The Doctor's right about this. We've dealt with a mauve alert before, and having more people involved just made everything worse."

The Doctor left to get dressed. 

"You're leaving now?" Pete asked. "Should I wake your mother?"

"We can't wait for that, and we can't wait for morning, either. We'll be leaving for... where ever the signal is coming from right now," Rose said. "Dad, will you tell them we're on our way to the helipad? I've got to change."

"Be careful," Pete insisted.

 

 **The Old Parkman School in Zolfo Springs, Florida.** It felt as if the circle became smaller with every passing second. Jeet and Molly took up the sofa between them. Slade stood next to Sam along the back, and the rest of them were collected in front. 

Rose broke the tension. "My name's Rose, Rose Tyler. This is JD Jones. We're both with UNIT."

"What's UNIT?" Sam asked.

"Unified Intelligence Task Force," Slade replied. "They were the ones who stopped the Cybermen."

"Oh, yeah, them," Dean said when no one else so much as batted an eyebrow at the word 'Cybermen.'

"I'm Agent Sam James," Sam said, showing his badge. "This is my partner – "

"Agent Dean Hetfield," Dean added, producing his badge.

"So, to be clear," The Doctor said. "You're Agents James and Hetfield?" 

"Were we unclear about our names?" Dean asked.

"Well," he said, "James Hetfield is the lead singer of Metallica."

"Yeah, we get that a lot," Sam replied. 

"Why do you know that?" Rose asked The Doctor. He replied by way of smile.

"Agent Paramjeet Bindiya. Call me Jeet, though," Jeet said, showing her badge. "I'm with DPS."

"Don't you mean DHS?" Dean asked.

"DHS changed its name years ago," Jeet pointed out. "Thought you'd know that just for the sake of interagency cooperation."

"He's got dyslexia," Sam lied quickly. "What about the rest of you?"

"I'm Molly Sanderson," Molly said.

"Gwen Castleberry."

"Slade Kilgore," Slade replied.

"Oh come on," Dean said. "That – that can't be your name. You might as well have called yourself Vonnegut Fan Ninety-nine."

"It's a pen name," Slade said quietly. "I'm a writer."

"Right," Dean said. "In the name of interagency cooperation, I think it's fair to say that all of you should get the hell out of here and let us deal with this."

"Vince," Molly said weakly.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Sam said. "But – "

"No, I mean, _Vince_ \- "

Everyone became still and quiet as Molly pointed towards the lobby door. Quick footsteps echoed loudly. Gwen crowed Molly, blocking her line of sight. 

"Help!" Vincent yelled. "Please we need – "

Dean grabbed Sam's shotgun and pointed it straight at him. 

Vince threw up his hands in surrender as he yelled, "Agent Hetfield? What the _hell_!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Gallows Pole** (Led Zeppelin)  
>  What did you bring me, my dear friends,   
> To keep me from the Gallows Pole?  
> What did you bring me to keep me from the Gallows Pole?


	3. Ghost

"What the hell is he playing at?" Gwen demanded. 

Rose stepped over the line. "Look at him. He doesn't look anything like that... thing that grabbed me."

The Doctor joined Rose and spoke directly to Vincent. "You said you had friends who need help?" 

"Yeah. They sent me ahead for help," Vincent replied. He turned to Dean. "Agent Hetfield, we did like you told us to. We broke camp and hiked out, but we didn't make it. Please – "

"Skinny guy," Dean interrupted as he walked over to The Doctor and Rose. "Yeah, you in the blue suit. You and me are gonna help Vince here – "

"Vin _cent_ ," Vincent said. "Vince is my father."

"Fine, Vincent, we're gonna help you. Sam, lock down this room till we figure out what's going on. You all should help him."

"Since when are we following your orders?" Slade asked. 

"Since you hid in the trunk of our car to get here," Jeet replied. "Are we agreed?"

The Doctor nodded, even though he didn't like the name 'skinny guy.' "Name's JD," he added as he and Dean went over to Vincent. "You can put your hands down."

"Why do you still have that gun?" Vincent asked Dean.

"Just in case," Dean replied. He reached out and shook Vincent's hand. 

"What's this?" Vincent protested as he wiped his hand.

"Sorry, salt," Dean said. "Long story, where're your friends?" He didn't bother mentioning the silver ring; Vincent hadn't reacted. So he wasn't a ghost, demon, or shifter. 

As soon as they left, Sam handed off a short towel to Jeet. "So you can clean up," he said. "Okay, so, who here knows how to fire a gun?"

"You serious?" Rose asked. 

"You just saw what Dean and I deal with," Sam said. "It's safe to leave the circle for now. We've got salt rounds for anyone who can shoot. It'll blast a ghost."

"You say 'ghost,' like it's a thing," Gwen said quietly. "But that man... he was just like Vince. I mean, he was Vince. And Vince is dead, that's what you said. So why did they go off with him?" 

Sam shrugged as he replied, "Dean and I investigate strange events, not just spirit activity. Stranger things have happened."

"That's us, me and JD," Rose said. "We investigate odd events, too."

"Whatever you and your partner do, I promise, this isn't it," Sam replied. 

"Funny," Rose said, "I was just about to say the same to you."

"You both do weird," Slade said loudly. "So why not work together?"

"That would sound better if it wasn't said by the stowaway in our trunk," Rose said more harshly than she meant. "You promised me you wouldn't follow us."

"Technically I didn't follow," Slade replied.

"Anyway," Sam interrupted. "We came here because of three missing people. Came into the Trine three days ago."

"What's so weird about that?" Rose asked.

"What are you investigating here?" Sam countered.

"A mauve alert," Rose replied.

"A mauve alert?" Sam echoed.

"Universal color for danger. As in, Earth uses red alerts, but other planets and species use mauve."

"As in aliens?" Sam asked.

"Obviously," Jeet spoke up. "DPS. Department of Planetary Security. Where the hell have you been?"

No one else flinched. Sam assumed that he had missed something while hiding from Dick Roman's leviathan attacks. "The weird thing here isn't the spirit activity, it's the doppelgangers."

Rose laughed. "Sorry, what?"

"Doppelgangers. Duplicates. Clones. Copies," Sam reeled off. "That's why my partner and I are here."

"Is that who that man was?" Molly asked as the color returned to her face. "Some kind of... copy? A clone?"

"No," Rose said.

"How do you know?" Sam asked.

"Because I've dealt with this before," she replied. "Calling Vincent a clone or a thing is just you lot being scared."

"That thing is wearing my partner's face!" Molly said loudly.

"We don't know that," Jeet pointed out. 

Sam tried to change the subject. He said, "A woman named Dawn Redding – "

"You know where Dawn is?" Gwen asked.

"Well, that's a little complicated," Sam explained. "We came in because she died in the hospital. Except Dawn Redding is still alive."

"What are you talking about?" Molly said, her voice breaking. "Do you mean some kind of clone of Dawn died?"

Sam bit his lip. "The fingerprints were different, but the DNA was identical. Other small things were different, like scars and haircut, so the authorities assumed they were long-lost twins."

"But you said 'copy,'" Molly insisted.

"He also said 'doppelganger,'" Rose said quickly.

Sam considered his options before speaking. "I was there at the coroner's. If Dawn Redding was some kind of copy – and yes, I have seen that before - then it was completely undetectable."

Rose had already drawn up a theory. "Look, when they get back, we can use JD's scanner to identify everyone, if that'll put your mind at ease about Vincent."

Gwen let out a hollow laugh. "You can't put my mind at east about Vince or Vincent," she said.

Molly was shaking, so Gwen squeezed onto the couch to comfort her. 

"Molly," Sam began gently. "I don't know why there are two of some people and not others, but until we know, it's important not to panic."

"And why's that?" Molly snapped. 

"Because Dawn Redding recorded things that happened here," Sam said. "From what we could make out, the panic led to violence. _Unnecessary violence_. And that can't happen again."

"But you don't even know what they are," Molly pointed out. "I mean, you said as much."

"We'll find out," Rose said.

"I thought we were fortifying this room?" Slade said, hoping to change the subject. "Something about guns?"

"Actually, we'd do better to salt all the doorways," Sam said. "And windows." 

Sam handed salt canisters to Slade, Rose, and Jeet. "All the entries of this room need a strong salt line. Don't do the main door."

The first few minutes of salting passed in silence.

"Is it just me or are the walls and doors a little off?" Jeet asked. "Like, they're not quite straight."

"They're not," Slade replied. "They built this around the Parkman School. Didn't knock it down or anything, so the dimensions are all off."

"That's not what I mean," Jeet said. "I mean it's like the wall has sort of ripples. And the doors? Look, no hinges and the frames are – "

"Low maintenance," Slade interrupted. "If the wood warps, you can still get the doors to open and close."

"We need somewhere to put her," Dean yelled from down the hall. "Sammy!"

Sam cleared off a coffee table. "Give me some of those blankets," he said to Jeet.

No sooner had they prepared the table than The Doctor and Vincent carried in the nearly unconscious body of Gwen Castleberry's doppelganger. A tall, wiry man with glasses followed, doubled-down with gear, with Molly Sanderson's doppelganger and Dean bringing up the rear, shotgun ready. 

"Slade, do that door now," Sam instructed. 

By the time Slade salted the door, both Gwen and Molly had gotten up from the couch and pulled away from the group, gaping at their duplicates.

The Doctor checked the Gwen on the coffee table for vitals. "Jeet, give me a hand here?" he asked. "You've got medical training."

"I'm a pathologist," she said. 

"That's dead people, isn't it?" Dean asked bluntly.

"Actually, you need a medical degree to become a pathologist," Sam pointed out. 

"'Course you do," Dean said. "So while she's doing that, we need to run some tests."

"Tests?" The Doctor said as Jeet took over. 

"To make sure everyone here is human," Dean said.

"As opposed to what?" The Doctor asked, slightly offended.

"Shifter. Skinwalker. Leviathan. Lots of big, bad things can shift into human form."

"That's your theory?" The Doctor asked.

"Actually, Doctor," Rose said quietly to him, "I think they might be... you know, like Mickey and Rickey."

"I agree."

"Listen, I don't speak British," Dean said. "What does that mean?"

"Same people, different universe," The Doctor said plainly. "Nothing alien, just a bit of an overlap."

"Okay, but for those of us who aren't absolutely out of it," Dean said. "We're gonna run these tests."

"I can prove it," The Doctor said. "Question for the room at large: what is the year, and who is currently President of the United States?"

The first Gwen answered, "Two thousand and fourteen, Hillary Clinton."

The other Molly answered, "Two thousand twelve, Barack Obama."

"What kind of Kool-Aid have you been drinking?" Dean asked the first Gwen. "It's twenty-twelve."

"In your universe," Rose said. "But where we come from, it's twenty-fourteen."

"Let's just say, you have your thing," Sam said. "We should still check our thing."

"Which entails what exactly?" The Doctor asked.

"This, this, this, and this," Dean said. He held out iron, salt, silver, and a cleaning agent. "And for good measure." He held up a bottle of water.

"You're gonna make us clean up?" Slade asked.

"Harmless to humans," Sam explained. "But if you're a shifter or Leviathan, it will hurt."

"Or if you're possessed," Dean added.

"Possessed?" The Doctor asked. "Sorry, can I see your badges again?"

"Hey, I'm not the one suggesting freaking alternative universes," Dean said. "You've got that bleeping gadget? We've got this."

The Doctor shook his head and started to fiddle with Rose's detector. "Right, this thing will be able to tell us which universe everything – and everyone – is from. That will help us navigate and get everyone back to the right place."

Sam started testing Slade as Dean worked on the two Mollies. 

"So, you're Molly Sanderson?" the first Molly asked.

"I go by Molls," the other replied. "My mom called me that."

"I use Molly."

"Now we can tell you apart," Slade chimed in happily. "Molly and Molls."

"And here we go," The Doctor said, handing Jeet a device. "This'll give you vitals along with a universe of origin."

"What kind of science do you do?" Jeet asked.

"All kinds," The Doctor said. "This device can detect resonance patterns. Each universe has its own frequency. Well, each parallel universe. Obviously you run out of frequencies as you head towards infinity."

"This says you're from neither," Jeet whispered. "You and Rose."

The Doctor winked at her dramatically. "Don't mention it."

"Gwen?" Jeet said to the woman on the table. "Can you understand me?"

"It's Castle," she said roughly. "Call me Gwen if you wanna be slapped."

"'Castle,' I like that," Rose said. 

"You said ghosts can't cross a salt line," Gwen said to Sam.

"That's right," Sam replied. 

"Then what's _that_?" she asked.

The Doctor and Dean pulled Gwen back. A flickering figure appeared in one corner of the room. Dean tossed salt at the figure uncertainly, but nothing happened. 

"What the hell?" he asked.

"No!" The Doctor said, holding up his detector with glee. "This is a time echo. Bleeding through from another universe."

"How does that work?" Dean asked. "Can it see us?"

"Shouldn't think so."

The figure spoke. " _...that long ago, but it was. They're grown now, all of them. And they wouldn't come this year. Couldn't. They've all got their own now. But they love you. Loved. I'm not really sure if it matters. I just came to say I miss you._ "

"Sounds all wonky. Like a bad bit of audio," Rose said. "What do you think? Seems like someone visiting a grave, doesn't it?"

"Question is, why is this bleeding through here?" The Doctor asked. "At this point, this time..."

"You understand what that person is saying?" Slade asked.

"'Course," The Doctor said. "Just a bit muddled is all."

"What language is it?" Slade asked. 

Rose leaned in to The Doctor. "I hear English. You?"

"Yeah, we'll chat about that later," he said to her. He replied to Slade, "Not sure what language. But at the very least, this shows that the ghosts are harmless."

"Except for the one that grabbed me," Rose said, holding up her wrist. 

"Well, no theory is perfect in the beginning," The Doctor replied. 

"Whatever this is, it's not a ghost," Sam said. "A ghost would've responded to the salt Dean threw at it, and it wouldn't be able to cross a salt line, either. Trust me: Ghosts are dangerous."

"So, ghosts are real, and this isn't a ghost," Castle said weakly. "That's fine. I could live with that. Just one question: what the hell is it?"

The Doctor replied, "This 'pseudo-ghost' is in fact a living, breathing person in another universe appearing here by what looks like some kind of phasing event. Or maybe the void in this area has gotten weak, letting – "

"What does that mean?" Gwen interrupted. "You're talking like this is stuff that happens. But I'm here, and again over there, so can you please start making sense?"

"I'm making perfect sense, Earth girl," The Doctor replied. Rose bumped his arm to indicate his insensitivity.

"JD," Sam prompted. "You said some of us are from your universe, and some are from another."

"That's what he said," Rose cut in. 

"In our universe, ghosts and spirit activity happen enough to keep Dean and I busy," Sam explained. "Not sure why you two are here, but I think it's safe to say - since everyone here has seen it - that the kind of spirit activity we deal with in our universe exist here, too."

"Dude, seriously?" Dean hissed to Sam. 

"Just because you don't accept parallel universes doesn't mean they don't exist," Sam said to Dean. "And everyone in this room is human, Dean."

"And that's all you need?" Dean asked. 

"It explains the doppelgangers," Sam replied. "And whatever this thing is," he added, waving at the figure still flickering in and out of existence. "It's not a ghost."

"Fine," Dean said. "Then tell me, JD," he said to The Doctor, "what's going on?"

"No idea," he replied. "Isn't that brilliant?"

"Is this guy for real?" Dean asked Rose.

"Oi, he's good at what he does, so shut it," Rose snapped back. "We should be working together. Figuring out how to get everyone back."

The figure disappeared. 

The tall, wiry man finally spoke up. "So that was someone from another universe?"

"You are?" Slade asked.

"Irwin. Irwin Rasmussen," he replied. "And I've camped in the Trine dozens of times before. Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"Well, it wouldn't've," Rose replied. "Any kind of transference between parallel worlds takes a hell of a lot of power. It couldn't last long, not without attracting a lot of attention."

"And destroying reality," The Doctor added. 

"But I've read stories about things like that," Slade said, pointing to where the figure had been. "That's been happening for years and years now. That's how this area got its reputation as haunted."

"Those're nothing," The Doctor replied. "Just tiny moments when the walls between this universe and the next become translucent. Or less opaque anyway. For some reason it happens in this area with unnatural frequency."

"Unnatural?" Sam asked. "You mean this stuff can happen naturally?"

"The walls and the void between are as malleable as the universes themselves. They have to be, what with expanding and contracting universes here and there. When this type of thing happens – and that's pretty rarely - no one really notices. They see it as blurry vision or fog or a bad storm. It's just a blip. Cleary whatever's happening here is new."

"Look, my troop – that's Castle, Molls, me, and Vincent – we all came here looking for people," Irwin said. "I mean, we were meeting them here today. But I don't see them here." He turned to Dean, "Does that mean that you sent them out of the Trine?"

Sam and Dean traded looks. Sam pulled out a piece of paper and read from it. "Candice York. Toben Harwell. Remy Greenberg."

The room felt colder already. 

"That's them!" Irwin said. "You've seen them?"

"Wait," Gwen spoke up. "That's who we came here looking for, too. They missed two check-ins, so we came out."

"You mentioned something about them," Molls added, looking at Sam. 

"I'm sorry. We have reason to believe they are all dead," Sam said compassionately.

"What reason?" Irwin demanded. "Did you find their bodies?"

"Not yet," Dean replied. 

"Oi," Rose said. "Doctor – "

"I see it," The Doctor said as his breath misted. 

"It's okay," Sam said. "She's on the other side of the line. It's fine."

"That's Candice," Molls said. 

Candice York – one of them, anyway – stood just outside the lobby door. None of the other ghosts reappeared, but the lights flickered. Sounds began to flood the room. 

_"Candice?" a man's voice said. "What's wrong. Candice?"_

"That's Toben," Gwen said. "But I don't see him out there."

"Time echo," The Doctor said. "Got to be. Look." 

He pointed to the sofa that they had gathered around earlier. The faint outlines of bodies were visible, but just barely. They could just make out Candice's form struggling to breathe. The scene played out as if in fast-forward. Candice collapsed, and three other bodies rushed to help her. Her name became a ringing chorus of voices that filled the room with stunned silence.

_"She's gone," Toben's voice said. "I can't get a carotid pulse."_

_"But what happened?" another voice asked._

_"I don't know. It's like her heart just stopped."_

Again, fading images jumbled together quickly, and more bodies joined. They collectively demanded explanation, and the whirl of response was impossible to understand. 

Dean kept watch of Candice's ghostly counterpart, but everyone else stared openly at the shadowy projection. Candice's body was more solid than the others. One of the other shapes touched her, and her eyes moved. Candice's mouth dropped open and twisted as she tried to suck down air, but she couldn't. The image became sharper as her body jerked and shuttered, but none of it seemed voluntary. 

"Her heart started again," The Doctor observed. 

"What the hell is this?" Vincent asked. 

"Find me," Candice's voice echoed from the hall. "I don't want to be stuck."

Everyone turned to see Candice York's ghost disappear. The shadow evaporated seconds later.

 

Sam and Dean spoke apart in a corner. Vincent, Molls, and Irwin kept to themselves. Jeet remained close to Castle to tend to her leg injury. Gwen and Molly had collapsed behind the couch. Everyone was uneasy.

Rose and The Doctor took the moment to speak privately. 

"I used to hear everything in English, but that was only because of the TARDIS," Rose said. 

"And I heard colloquial Gallifreyan," The Doctor said. "Should've put me right onto it, but it wasn't till you said you heard English that I realized... whatever is causing the time fluctuations, the echoes, the parallel bleed-through, it's all coming from some kind of technology that also has a telepathic interface."

"Why were we the only ones it translated for?" Rose asked. "I mean, no one else seemed to understand what that person was saying."

"Could be anything," The Doctor replied. "Maybe because we've both interfaced with the TARDIS before, our minds were more open to the connection."

"Well, barring a TARDIS, what else could it be?" she asked.

"That's the thing," The Doctor replied grimly. "I knew so much about the other universe. But this one... It's a whole new place. The Earth is this different, what about the rest of it? For all I know, the Time Lords died out but left behind remnants here. Or maybe some of the other older races involved in the Time War survived. Or didn't fight. I just don't know."

"You okay?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I am in an area where two overlapping parallel universes keep rippling against one another," he replied. "Can't complain about being bored with all this going on, can I now?"

"You miss the traveling," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Everything's different," he said. "But my thoughts, and everything, they're the same..."

"Oh, I dunno about that." 

"What're you trying to say?"

"That little bit of Donna in you. It's there, Space man," she said. "I can see it. It's not a bad thing." After a moment, she added, "I miss the traveling, too."

"Yeah, well, you would," he said playfully. "Blimey. When did this conversation turn so domestic?"

"Sorry, sir," Rose said, as if straightening up for battle. "What's next?"

"You trust them? The two gangly FBI agents?" he asked. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I don't think they're FBI agents for one."

"But they're right about things."

"They also have an arsenal packed in duffel bags and advocate the use of condiments for self defense," The Doctor replied. 

"You're all about with a sonic screwdriver," Rose replied. "Most people would give you the same treatment, 'cept you're usually right. I think they're here to help."

He nodded in agreement.

"What're you gonna do?"

"I need to figure out what kind of tech is here," he said. "Without Jeet following me and reporting everything to DPS. So I'm going to head out and find it."

"None of our phones are working," Rose said. "And you're not going alone."

"I fixed that. Set up a com paging system with our phones."

"When?"

"As soon as I realized there were overlapping universes," he said. "Didn't I mention?"

"You're still not going alone," Rose said. She gave the room a quick scan. "Take Slade." 

"Slade?" The Doctor asked. "Why?"

"Because he knows all the stories about this place. That might help you, I dunno, pinpoint something. And you always wind up needing another pair of hands."

"I doubt this lot is just gonna let us sneak off, so – "

"Excuse me!" Irwin announced loudly. "I just – can I have a minute?"

All eyes swiveled to him. 

"We all came back here because it was too dark to hike out, right?" Irwin asked. Several people nodded. "So that means, we're all waiting for daylight, right?"

"So what?" Molly asked.

"If we're stuck here until daylight, then, can't we at least search for them?" Irwin asked. "In this building?"

"You wanna walk around a building full of ghosts and time echoes, or whatever the hell they are?" Dean asked.

"That's the only reason we came here," Irwin said. "We came here to find our friends. All of us. You heard Candice. She doesn't want to get stuck here."

"If we do that," Sam began, "you do understand that the only thing we can do is salt and burn her remains."

"Do I even want to ask why?" The Doctor asked. 

"It's the only way to put spirits to rest," Sam replied.

"When you say 'rest,'" Irwin asked, "you mean, they won't be stuck here, like she was?"

"She'll pass on," Sam said. 

"It's a bad idea to go wandering around," Dean said. "And my damn phone isn't working – "

"Actually," The Doctor interrupted. "I can help with that. I can modify phones to work now I know about the overlap."

"All right, then, phones up," Dean said. "Everyone."

"So, quick tutorial, this is a com system, like an old-fashioned police radio. You can't call just one person. Whatever you say will go to everyone," The Doctor warned.

"Well, as of now, these phones are junk," Sam said. "Radio's better than nothing."

"Then we can look for them?" Irwin asked. 

"Till daylight," Sam said. 

Dean added, "As soon as there's light and we can get out of here, we're going."

"It's sorted, then!" The Doctor said. "We should break up into groups."

"I'm staying with Castle," Molls said.

"She might need some stitches," Jeet spoke up. "This bandage isn't holding. So I'll stay here as well."

"I've got a suture kit," Sam said. "If you need extra."

"I'll go," Vincent spoke up. 

"And me," Gwen said next.

"I guess, me as well," Molly said. "But only if I get a gun."

"These? They're salt rounds," Dean said handing Molly a shotgun. "Won't kill someone, but it will hurt. So don't point it at me."

"We've only got four shotguns," Sam said. 

"Only?" The Doctor asked Rose quietly. 

"But we've got iron pokers and chains," Sam said. "Molly, Vincent, you're with me."

"Which means Gwen and Irwin, you're with me," Dean said. "And universe boy and girl? What about you?"

"JD and Rose," The Doctor corrected. "And you'll need someone here to keep track of you. Rose, I've wired up your phone to track their com signals and hopefully pick up body heat. That'll be a bit dodgy sometimes, so if you have to pick one to trust, the com signals are the ones. And your phones," The Doctor said as he soniced through the lot of them. "Push the biggest button to call out. Rose and I will keep an eye on things and figure out how to get everyone back to the right place."

"Remember, we have till sunrise," Sam repeated. "And if there's anything dangerous out there, we come right back in here. Let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Ghost** (Quantum Mechanics)  
>        n. negative-normed vector  
>  **Ghost** (Folklore, Traditional Belief)  
>        n. apparition of a dead person believed to appear in the reality of the living, usually distorted in its manifestation


	4. Eminence Front

**Four hours ago**. Dean hated hiking, which meant he already hated this case. Sam led the way as they stomped through a few empty fields before reaching the edge of the wooded area that marked the boundary of the Trine.

"Damn it," Sam said. 

"What?"

"Smoke," Sam said as he changed direction to follow it. "There's at least one camp."

"How is it that people hear the words 'Bermuda Triangle' and just walk right on into it?" 

"This isn't the Bermuda Triangle," Sam replied, "Whatever weird stories people tell about the Trine, they think they're just stories."

"How many people you think are out here?" Dean asked. "Assuming no one takes any of the creepy seriously."

"Statistically, not a lot," Sam said. "A dozen maybe? I don't know. There's just the one emergency shelter in the area. It's meant to support maybe twenty."

"Sammy, wait," Dean said. "Look at this." He hovered by a tree with a carved symbol. "Quincunx. A five-spot, right? Major hoodoo for protection against spirits."

"Looks like it was carved years ago," Sam said, pushing ahead. "Come on."

They came into a semi-open area that had recently been a campsite, but it had clearly been abandoned in a hurry. The fire was still burning, and equipment had been left behind, including sleeping pads, pots, and cooking utensils.

"Bad sign," Dean remarked.

"Okay, so, camping people are packing up. Tents are down, but they've still got a fire, probably for cooking. This could be bears or something," Sam concluded. 

"Really, bears?" Dean asked. "So this place has waffs and doppelgangers _and_ bears?"

"Yeah, but this place looks like a bunch of campers got scared and ran off," Sam replied. 

Dean made a face but nodded in agreement. "No blood or screaming or bodies in the immediate area. I'll give you that." A buzzing sound drew Dean's attention. "You hear that?"

Sam followed the sound out of the clearing and into a cluster of nearby trees that began the forest in earnest. 

"So much for bear," Dean said. He pointed up to a decaying body strewn across the largest branch of tall oak. It would be easy to miss if not for the insect activity.

"Maybe it was a bobcat," Sam suggested. "A really big bobcat."

"Seriously?" 

"Bobcats drag their food up into trees," Sam replied. 

"Animal Planet?"

Sam nodded. 

"Awesome. That could be nature crap," Dean said, "but this sure as hell ain't." He held up his EMF detector, which was oscillating wildly.

"Is that blood or ecto?" Sam asked in reference to a sludge-like substance dripping down the side of the tree.

"Probably ecto," Dean replied. "That camp had at least three people."

"You go west, I'll go south," Sam said. 

The next few minutes passed in silence as the brothers fanned out, searching the immediate area for any indication of where the other campers ended up. The clustered trees made it difficult to see anything more than a few feet away at a time.

"Dean!" Sam yelled. "I found them." His tone was telling.

Dean joined his brother to find three bodies, all stretched out as if they had been crawling in their last moments. They were charred, and the smell indicated it was recent.

"Every tree has that symbol carved on it," Sam observed. 

"Definitely ecto," Dean said, spotting another splotch of it. "These poor bastards were possessed."

"So, possessed people wind up stuck in a clearing surrounded by hardcore hoodoo warding spells. You think someone burned them?" Sam asked. "I don't think these symbols are strong enough to do this kind of damage on their own."

"Why would anyone light possessed people on fire?" Dean asked. "That's extreme, even for us."

"I dunno," Sam said, "but being burned alive? I qualify that as a violent death."

Dean held out his fist. 

"For what?" Sam asked.

"Tree dude," Dean replied.

Sam put out his fist, too, and they shook three times. Sam threw rock, and Dean threw paper.

"You always pick scissors," Sam said suspiciously. 

"Saving it up for a very rainy day," Dean replied. 

It took Sam ten minutes to knock the body out of the tree. He wrapped it with a blanket from the abandoned campsite and carried it over to the others. He salted the remains.

"Hold on, did you check if these are the people who traveled with Dawn?" Dean asked.

"There're too many of them," Sam replied. "She only had three people with her."

"Yeah, and one of them was in a tree."

Sam shook his head as he pulled out the camera. "We can follow this," Sam added. "Retrace their steps."

"Except most of it is crap," Dean replied as he added accelerant.

"Uh, Dean," Sam prompted. 

Spotting the footage, Dean asked, "What did you do?"

"Nothing. I just turned it on."

"We couldn't see any of that before," Dean said. "Is it them? Last chance for a good look."

"Go ahead," Sam said, so Dean started the fire. "Definitely not them."

"You can tell?" 

"All the stuff we found around here is mixed-matched," Sam said. "All the gear Dawn's troop had was uniform and new." 

"Nancy Drew," Dean muttered. "Okay, we've gone about ten feet in and found hoodoo and four bodies already. I feel good about this, how 'bout you?" he asked sarcastically.

 

 **The Old Parkman School**. Sam led Molly and Vincent down the east hall. It seemed endless, with dozens of doors between the main hall and the far end. 

"So, Agent James," Vincent said, "how did you get on to this? You said you came here looking for our friends."

"Dawn Redding contacted us," Sam said.

Molly asked, "Do you know which Dawn? I mean, from where?"

Sam thought. "Twenty-twelve. Dawn from the universe where it's currently twenty-twelve."

"You say that like it's normal," Vincent replied. "Impressive."

Sam shrugged. "Sorry, it's the only thing I could think – "

"What about the other Dawn?" Molly interrupted.

"I'm sorry," Sam said. "She died."

"You said as much," Molly said sadly. "Just wanted to confirm."

"I'm sorry," Vincent said.

"So, here's how we do this," Sam said, cutting through the tension. "No one checks a room alone. We pop in, sweep it with flashlights, then mark the door when we're done. One of us stays outside the door, keeping the watch and keeping the door open."

"I'll stay outside the first one," Molly offered. 

"Vincent? After you." 

They ducked into the first room. It was empty and roughly the size of a very small bedroom, about ten by ten.

"Clear," Sam said. "I'll mark this door, you two head into the next."

Molly bit her lip but nodded, moving immediately to the opposite door. 

"You okay?" Vincent asked. 

"Yeah, fine, let's go," she replied.

They swept the room, which was slightly larger, about twelve by ten. 

"Have I said something?" Vincent asked. "I mean, you don't seem to mind Sam, so I was just – "

"No. It's just, my Vince, died less than an hour ago."

"I'm sorry."

"You and your Molly – or Molls – the one from where you're from. Are you together?" 

"Uh, no," Vincent replied. "Never have been." He changed the subject. "This room is clear, Sam."

They continued without incident until the seventh room, which was about twelve by fourteen. Inside was the body of Toben Harwell. 

"Toben," Vincent whispered.

"Is it your Toben or my Toben?" Molly asked.

"I don't know how to tell," Sam replied. "Looks like he died of a bad head wound, which means it would've been quick at least."

"That's something," Vincent said as he reached down and checked Toben's watch. "I think he was my Toben. I mean, from twenty-twelve."

"You sure?" Molly asked.

"His watch is set to that year," Vincent replied. He turned to his friend. "I'm so sorry, buddy. I'm sorry."

Sam handed Vincent the salt. 

"No, uh, no. I can't," Vincent said quietly. "Actually, I might need to be in the hall when you... well, you know."

"You should step out then," Sam said. 

Vincent slid the door ajar so he didn't have to watch. His stomach dropped when he heard the match strike, and he closed his eyes to say a prayer for Toben.

It was very cold. 

Vincent opened his eyes and met eyes just like his, nose to nose. Confusion and fear bound together in his chest, making it hard to breathe. In the next instant, it felt as if his flesh was on fire, then frozen. Then Vincent Pierce became a puppet, a prisoner in his own mind, and Vince stretched out Vincent's fingers, arms, and legs. 

"Ah, to be alive," Vince whispered with Vincent's mouth. "And it's all so me. What could be better?"

 

"Agent Hetfield," Irwin said as they started down the west hall. "You never said. How did you get here?"

"Call me Dean," Dean replied. "And I told you, we were called in on a case. One death. Three missing people. And a pattern of weird which you've seen with your own eyes."

"I mean, you came here to the Old Parkman School. Why?" 

"We were following information provided by Dawn Redding," Dean replied. He stopped at the first door and turned to face Irwin and Gwen. "Do not wander off, even if you think it's just a few feet. Don't do it. Don't disappear around corners. Don't close doors. We check the room, mark the door and leave it open. Got it?"

"This isn't Desert Storm," Gwen said. "You can relax."

"No, this is twenty times worse than Desert Storm," Dean replied. "Stay within sight. Stay in contact. Don't wander off. If you can't do that, we should head back to the lobby. Now."

"I can handle it," Gwen replied. "I'm just not sure if your blood pressure can take it."

"Shut it," Dean said as he opened the first door.

"Is there any pattern?" Irwin asked. "To the rooms?"

"What difference – " Dean asked.

"Dean!" Gwen interjected. "Look. Just – look."

A very solid Candice York was just down the hall. Her body was stretched out across the floor with a puddle of blood around her. She was still tying to crawl. She cried out for help, but no words came out. No sound could be heard from her at all, not even the shuffling of her movements.

"Is she real?" Irwin whispered. 

"She's not a ghost," Dean said. 

"We've already had to watch her die," Gwen said. "Do we need to again?"

"She's pointing to something," Dean said.

Candice reached one arm as far as she could and pointed two door downs. Her fingers shook and her arm fell. 

"Candice," Gwen said the silent woman. "You still owe me that favor. And that dinner from the bet you lost."

"She can't hear you," Dean said. 

"You don't know that," Gwen said to Dean. She turned back to Candice. "I don't know what happened to you. I don't know if I even want to find out. But we will find you and make sure you're put to rest. You understand? We won't leave you to rot."

But Candice had already stopped moving. A vacant expression passed over her eyes. The pool of blood around her was deep and dark.

"She's gone," Irwin whispered. "Again."

Gwen went straight to the door and opened it. Irwin and Dean both followed and ducked into the room, leaving Gwen outside. She gave one last glance to Candice's flickering body before joining them. 

"Good news," Dean said coldly. "We found someone."

A man's body was scattered throughout the room. Dean was reminded of those weird abstract paintings Sam had tried to explain to him. The colors were off and not from decay. A hand and part of the forearm were by the window. The core of the body was in the far corner. 

"Remy," Gwen said. "This is Remy Greenberg."

"How can you tell?" Dean asked. "There's not much left. I don't even see a head."

"Don't talk about him like that," Gwen said. "He is a good man. Was, whatever. And he always had those ridiculous shoes when he went hiking or camping."

She referred to Remy's hiking boots. They were normal save for the trim and lace, which were both a violent shade of red.

"My Remy didn't wear those," Irwin stated quietly. "I'd've remembered."

"No, but let's go with that," Dean said. "I know this is hard, but we need to gather up all of him – everything – and burn it. So," Dean pulled out the medical gloves Jeet had handed off to him. "Use protection."

"Innuendo?" Gwen snapped. "Really? Now?"

Dean smiled. "If only you were from my universe." He stopped for a moment. "Never thought I'd say that."

 

In the far south of the building, The Doctor and Slade climbed two flights of stairs. 

"Funny," Slade commented. "These stairs don't look old enough to warp. And even if they were, it's not like it's damp in here."

"No, they're not warped," The Doctor commented, running his detector and sonic screwdriver. "They're not made of wood, either. Some kind of carbon composite with insulation. For some reason they were put together like this."

"Well, being cheap and low-maintenance is a good enough reason most of the time," Slade replied as he tripped up the stairs.

They reached the top floor, which consisted of a single, long hall running down to a window on the north end. Dozens of doors ran down either side. Each door was different in height and width.

The Doctor paged the com. "Rose, it's me and Slade. Do you have anything on the second floor?"

"No, sorry," Rose replied over the com. "Jeet's building plan was on her handheld, and I can't get it to turn on."

"Anyone bother with a hard copy?" The Doctor asked.

Another voice replied over the com. "I left a large green duffel under that tall table. There's a printed schematic in there. It's a little old."

"Who's that?" Rose asked.

"Sorry, this is Sam."

"Thanks Sam. I'll take a look and get back to you, Doctor," Rose replied.

"Lovely," The Doctor said.

Slade considered The Doctor for a moment as they walked down the hall. "Why does she call you that?" he asked.

"What?"

"Rose. She calls you Doctor."

"Yes she does," The Doctor replied. 

"Why's that?" 

"Because she can."

"So it's a nickname?"

The Doctor smiled but didn't reply. He leaned into the northern window to get a better look. "That's not entirely impossible, just very nearly so," he whispered to himself.

"What is?"

"According to my detector, there are time distortions, but space is fine."

"So what?"

"Well, we only climbed two flights, didn't we?"

"That I counted."

"So how is it we're on the fifth floor?"

"We're not," Slade replied.

"Take a peek. Go on, see for yourself."

"Ah, well, trick of the light," Slade dismissed.

"What light?" 

"Fine, trick of the dark," Slade corrected.

 _"You said she was dead!"_ a voiced heralded loudly, making both jerk around. 

Two identical men stood opposite each other. The one speaking brandished a mean-looking hunting knife.

The Doctor held his detector in their general direction. "Major time echo," he said. "Do you know who that is?"

Slade shook his head. "They said two men were missing, Toben and Remy, right? So - "

The echo interrupted him. _"You said Candice was dead!"_

_"She was! She had no pulse! I tried to revive her for four minutes, but nothing worked!"_

_"What did you do to her?"_

_"Nothing!"_

_"She just woke up,"_ the knife-bearing man said, advancing on the other. _"She woke up and looked at me, like she was asking how I could leave her for dead."_

_"I'm telling you – "_

_"She had a pulse! I felt it."_

_"That's not possible, she had no pulse for over four minutes, I swear to you – "_

_"Candice looked right at me. She was terrified. What did you do to her, you bastard? What are you?"_

_"We're the same person,"_ the other replied. _"And if my Candice had died, I'd be angry, too, but whatever happened to her, I had nothing to do with it. She collapsed. I tried to save her. I swear to you I did."_

The other tried to reach out and touch the knife-wielding man, who responded with a brutal slash down his forearm. The injured man reeled away and fell into the nearest wall, grabbing his arm and howling in pain. 

_"Tell me what you are!"_ the violent man yelled as he raised his bloody weapon.

 _"Toben..."_ the injured man pleaded. Then he stared at his arm in surprise. There wasn't any blood. The cut was solid scar tissue. 

_"I knew it! You aren't human! You're things sent to kill us!"_

The assailant charged at his wounded counterpart, but then both of them vanished. 

"Is it just me, or are those things getting clearer?" Slade asked. 

"That's not the only thing," The Doctor replied. "The temporal distortions are much worse than I thought. That scar on his arm, how Candice died – "

"You know how she died?" 

"After seeing that gem, I've an idea," The Doctor replied. "For that injury to heal over immediately, that means the temporal distortions are much smaller, more precise, than I originally thought. It's not just the life cycle of a single organism. Otherwise that injured man would've put on about ten years to go with his scar."

"You're speaking gibberish. Are you trying to say time somehow fast-forwarded on his wound?"

"Just on the skin of that one arm, judging by the additional sun damage," The Doctor. "And if I had to guess - and without a body to examine, that's all I can do – I'd say Candice died because her heart was caught in a time loop. Explains why she didn't have a pulse for several minutes, then she did."

"So she died of heart failure?"

"Technically, it would be hypoxia," The Doctor replied. "Her heart didn't fail, it just got caught in a loop apart from the rest of her body. The organ was functioning just fine – well, it would have to, because it eventually started pumping blood again. That's how she woke up. That's why she looked so horrified when she opened her eyes. Severe brain damage for one."

Slade looked paler than usual. "First she suffocated, then she became conscious again after most of her body had already died?"

"'Fraid so," The Doctor replied. "Just conjecture, obviously, but that would explain what we've seen."

"You do this a lot, do you? Deal with horrible deaths?"

The Doctor considered Slade's words. "Someone has to," he replied. "Understanding her pain or death is sometimes the only thing we can do for someone like Candice."

"And you're okay with that?" 

"I do everything I can," The Doctor replied. "It's almost never enough. I've had to accept that."

"That's not an answer."

The Doctor paged the com. "Everyone, step lightly. There are more temporal distortions than I thought."

"What about you?" Jeet paged back.

"Slade and I will be down as soon as we can. Might be a bit longer than the others," The Doctor said. "But we're fine. Pretty sure this whole place is empty."

The Doctor waved to the closest door. "Well? What do you say, Slade?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Eminence Front** (The Who)  
>  The drinks flow, people forget  
> That big wheel spins, the hair thins  
> People forget, forget they're hiding  
> The news slows, people forget  
> The shares crash, hopes are dashed  
> People forget, forget they're hiding  
> Behind an eminence front


	5. Ricochet

Dean and Gwen ducked into another room. Irwin was ready to follow, but something caught his attention. A familiar voice emanated clearly from the opposite door.

"Dawn?" Irwin said as he cracked the door. 

The room was empty save for a tripod and camera. It was playing – that's where Dawn's voice came from. Irwin stepped in and let the door shut after him.

The recording was filled with faults and jerks not normally associated with digital cameras, but Dawn would've been proud of her work anyway. She had caught quite a few of those time-echo things. 

He didn't know how long he stood there watching the footage. Days and hours of his life bled out of him as he saw his friends marching into the building, setting up rooms, talking about the stories of the Trine. Yet at the same time, it all felt unnaturally fast. He became vaguely aware that people were calling his name, but it didn't seem important. 

They were all dead. His friends came here and met their copies or clones or whatever those other people were, and they killed each other. Dawn caught it on film: the Other-Remy killed Toben and Other-Toben killed Candice. 

Anger flushed his skin. These other people, supposedly from another universe, murdered his friends. And he was supposed to just hold hands with their friends? He was just supposed to accept that they _were_ people?

Irwin became so engrossed that he didn't feel the room turn to ice. The ghost of Toben Harwell, who died at the hands one of those things, appeared. He watched as Irwin went from curious to defeated and then boiled over into beautiful, smoldering wrath. Someone kept trying the door, but Toben kept it shut. His lifeless spirit had abided and suffered in this forsaken place for a very long time, and he had grown strong.

Irwin finally saw him, Toben's spirit. He said nothing. He didn't scream or run. 

"You need a strength that only the dead have," Toben whispered. "And I'm gonna give it to ya, Win."

"Tobe?" Irwin asked. "That's you?"

"Even better, I'm _you_ ," Toben replied as his essence rippled into Irwin.

Cold and silence cascaded around him. In the next moment, he felt his body move of its own accord. He tried to speak but couldn't. He tried to move, but it was in vain. He could see and feel and think, but Irwin Rasmussen was as a marionette, invisible strings demanding his form do and do and do.

He saw his hand turn off the camera and tuck it away in his pocket. His breath stopped misting; the room's temperature returned to normal. An eruption of sound made Irwin collapse.

"Irwin? Irwin!" Gwen's voice came over the com. "Are you all right?"

Dean yelled through the door. "Irwin! Irwin! If you can hear us, knock on something hard three times."

_Knock, knock, knock!_

"He's okay," Gwen said. "Irwin, get away from the door!"

Dean kicked, hard, but the door didn't move. Gwen tried. Nothing. They kicked together. Nothing. 

"Stop," Irwin called. "I'm going to open the door."

As soon as the door opened, Dean asked, "What the hell?"

"Sorry," Irwin replied. "I thought I saw something, and then I slipped and hit my head. I think."

Dean yanked Irwin out of the room. He spotted the tripod. "Was this room clear?"

"Uh, yes," Irwin replied. "Nothing there."

"What about that?" Dean asked, pointing. 

"It's just a tripod," Irwin replied. 

Dean shook his head and marked the door. "We should go back to the lobby and get Jeet to check you out."

"We've just got two more rooms," Irwin pointed out. "Or, four, I guess. Let's finish."

"You look ill," Gwen said quietly. 

"That'll be true if we do these rooms or not," Irwin replied quietly. 

Dean paged again, "Irwin fell and hit his head. We'll head back your way in a few so Jeet can check him out."

"I'll be ready," Jeet replied.

 

The Doctor and Slade made quick work of the first dozen rooms, all of which were empty. 

"You getting anything?" Slade asked again.

"No, nothing," The Doctor replied. "Looks like this floor is more stable than downstairs."

"Except for the two identical men fighting in the hallway," Slade replied. 

"Well – " The Doctor began.

He stopped short when he saw one of the walls shift. Slade had obviously caught sight of it, too, as he backed slowly to the room's door.

"Doctor – "

"Only Rose calls me that."

"JD," Slade corrected. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," The Doctor replied. 

From under the threshold, Slade tried to pull the Doctor into the hall, but the door threw The Doctor into the room and slammed shut in Slade's face.

"JD!" he yelled at the door. "JD!"

He turned and pressed his back into the door so he wouldn't forget which room JD was in. A pungent scent wafted by, and his legs gave out as his brain processed what he saw. 

Sam's corpse was impaled on the far wall, suspended above the floor, where a pool of his blood gathered. Only feet away from him, JD and Rose were crumpled together, both sheet-white. She was completely still in his arms, but his body gave an occasional jerk. As far as Slade could tell, all three were dead in some kind of sick tableaux.

 _"'Cuz if Sammy and I are going, then you're gonna burn with us, you sonovabitch!"_ Dean yelled. 

The strike of a match went up, and Slade cast his eyes about, searching for Dean. He stood apart from the others, next to someone who had been staked through the stomach. Slade didn't get much, other than the person was a man, before smoke ballooned around them both. The stake itself burned, adding to the flurry of smells that pushed his gag reflex.

In the blink of an eye, the fire was everywhere. Then everything stopped: the flame, the smoke, the smell. All that remained were five skeletons, and absolute silence cascaded around Slade as he collapsed to his knees, keeping his back to the same door to remind himself that JD was alive on the other side. 

JD was alive. This? This was nothing more than a nightmare. He repeated this thought over and over again until the skeletons flickered and disappeared.

 

Sam thought The hallway added more doors as they progressed. Either that, or time was playing tricks on him. 

"You remember," Vince-Vincent said quietly to Molly, "when we got locked in that cellar? We thought it was just a storm cellar, but it was actually for storage. Didn't know that, of course, till we found out we couldn't open the door from the inside. That was the first time we were alone together. What? Ten years ago, wasn't it?"

"That wasn't me," Molly said. "And that wasn't you. Me and Vince, you and your Molly, that happened to us separately."

Vince-Vincent put his hand on her shoulder, and she turned to him. She could see something different in his eyes: a history, a passion even.

"It was us," he said.

"Vince?" Molly whispered.

"Shh," he said. "Our secret."

"But you died."

"No, it wasn't me," he said. "Go with it."

"But, why?"

"Safety," Vince-Vincent replied.

"We still have rooms. Chat later when we're back at the lobby," Sam said.

Vincent waved for Molly to go in front of him, and she did, confusion alone tampering her grin. Sam noticed but thought better than to mention it.

 

At the far end of the hall, a glass door opened out to the garden. Dean took notice of it as Gwen and Irwin ducked into the last room. 

"Clear," Irwin said as he marked the door. 

"Good, let's get back and - what the hell?" Dean said abruptly.

Molly – or Molls, he couldn't tell which – was lying against the outside door, soaking wet. Her body was bleached of its usual color, and her eyes were red. She was still shaking, but she was too far-gone. 

"Molly!" Gwen cried, moving to help her

Irwin stopped her. "We can check on Molly."

"You blind?" Gwen asked. "She's right there."

"He's right," Dean said. He paged the com system. "Molly? Molls? You there?"

"Jeet here. Molls is all right."

"Molly, the other Molly, here, and okay. Any reason you're asking?" 

"No," Dean lied. "Just checking in."

"Dean, what're you doing?" Sam asked. "We'd've paged if we needed help."

"We finished our hall and are heading back to the lobby," Dean replied. "Over and out."

"You're not going to tell her?" Irwin asked. 

"Tell her what?" Dean asked.

"That we just saw her die," Irwin said baldly. 

"Says who?" Dean asked. "Look, that skinny guy with the glasses might know something about universes or echoes or whatever, but that doesn't mean he's right. For all we know, that over there is just a manifestation. A reflection of fear."

"Is that even a possibility?" Gwen asked.

"And if it is the future, best way to prevent it is to get back to the lobby and keep Molly and Molls safe and away from water," Dean replied. 

As they started down the hall, Irwin made to page the com, but Dean pushed his hand away. 

"You can't tell her!" Dean said.

"Why not?" Irwin asked.

"We don't even know which one we saw, if it's either of them," Dean replied. "And for another, you ever hear of a self-fulfilling prophecy?"

"She deserves to know," Irwin replied.

"If we knew something, I'd agree, but we don't," Dean replied. "We don't know if that's a future event or a warning or just random crap getting mixed up! So until we _know_ what we know, we keep it to ourselves."

"What else are you hiding?" Irwin asked, keeping stride with Dean. "You hide this from Molls, then what wouldn't you keep from the rest of us?"

"I don't go around talking out of my ass," Dean said, turning to face Irwin. "You tell Molly and Molls, then what? They freak out, run and hide, wind up dying _because_ you told them."

"'Least I tried!"

"Actually, it tallies with you killing her," Dean spat. "Because you couldn't keep your head on straight."

"Fine, I'll agree if you answer me on this: What else are you keeping from us?" Irwin asked.

"Nothing," Dean spat. "Now – "

"Really? Not even a recording Dawn Redding made?" Irwin asked. "One that shows how our friends died?"

"It doesn't show how anyone died," Dean replied. "The recording we had didn't play well. We could hear things, sometimes, but most of it was black, fuzz, and feedback."

"Liar," Irwin said. 

"Irwin," Gwen placated. "I'm sure that this is all – "

Her breath misted as she spoke. She stopped short, confused by the sudden shift. Then she saw Toben's face flash across Irwin's.

"What are you?" she asked quietly. 

Irwin seized her, wrapping his arm across her neck and pulling her into a crude chokehold. Toben's ghost couldn't hide as his rage broke the surface. The lights flickered in tune with his own flickering form superimposing over Irwin. 

"Tell me what you know!" Toben-Irwin barked. "Or this bitch dies!"

 

Sam counted off the rooms as they cleared them. Only five more in this hall, and they'd be done. Part of him wished they'd brought Bobby's flask. They could use his help right now.

Vince-Vincent gasped. 

"You okay?" Sam asked. 

"I'm fine," Vince-Vincent replied. "But she isn't."

The body of Jeet was splayed across the ground, her head several feet apart. She was still blinking.

"Tell me that that flickered," Sam said. 

"It did," Vince-Vincent replied hollowly. 

Molly paged the com, "Jeet?"

"I'm here," Jeet replied over the com.

Molly was at a loss for words, so Sam paged in, "How's Castle doing?"

Jeet replied, "She'll be able to walk in a few hours. She's up and about now, actually, testing the waters."

"Great," Sam said. "We're nearly finished. Heading back soon."

All three stared at Jeet's decapitated body until it disappeared. 

"What was that?" Molly asked. "I mean, Jeet is alive. Is that her... the other Jeet?"

"I don't know," Sam replied. "Maybe. Probably." 

"How many people have died here?" Molly inquired. 

"I don't know," Sam replied. "Let's finish up those rooms."

 

"I said tell me!" Toben-Irwin repeated.

"Okay," Dean said, putting up his hands. "Just, let her go."

"TELL me!"

Dean tossed salt at Toben-Irwin, who flinched. A tiny pop emanated from Gwen, and she shrieked. The pain gave her the strength to resist, though, and she kicked him in the knee and knocked her elbow into his face. As soon as she was clear, Dean closed in with a handful of salt, which he forced into Toben-Irwin's mouth. Toben writhed in agony and ejected from his body.

Irwin collapsed on the ground, panting.

The com beeped, "Jeet?"

"I'm here." Jeet replied over the com.

"What the hell just happened?" Gwen asked, cradling her left arm. 

"He was possessed," Dean replied. "You okay?"

"How's Castle doing?" Sam asked over the com.

Dean rolled his eyes as Jeet responded. Like there weren't more important things.

Gwen spoke, "I think something is broken or dislocated."

"Irwin?" Dean asked.

"We're nearly finished. Heading back soon," Sam chimed over the com. 

"Nerd," Dean commented under his breath. "Irwin? Speak to me, man."

He replied by spitting out a mouthful of salt. "I hate you, you bastard," he said. "And thanks."

"Don't mention it. Can you walk?"

Irwin nodded weakly. 

"Let's haul ass," Dean said. "Irwin, hurry up."

Irwin wobbled back to his feet, and as he did so, he heard something. Footsteps. He turned his head, but he couldn't see anyone.

 _"Don't you understand?"_ JD's voice echoed. _"Everyone here is waiting for the sun to come up."_

 _"We're all ready to leave at sunrise,"_ the voice of Rose replied. 

_"Except the sun will never rise on this place,"_ JD replied. _"There won't be a sunrise."_

"What does that mean?" Irwin demanded from the open air, as if expecting a reply. 

"Hey, Irwin!" Dean yelled. "What's holding you up?"

Irwin shook his head. Maybe the FBI agents weren't the only ones keeping secrets. He made his way down the hall, forcing a weak smile on his face. Toben had been right; he needed strength. These people might very well be trying to cover something up, and he wasn't going to let them get away with it.

"Wiped me out," he said as he closed in on Dean and Gwen. "Go on, I'll catch up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Ricochet** (David Bowie)  
>  Like weeds on a rockface waiting for the scythe  
> And who can bear to be forgotten  
> These are the prisons these are the crimes  
> Teaching life in a violent new way  
> Ricochet - ricochet  
> Ricochet it's not the end of the world


	6. Microcosm

Rose dug the building plans from Sam's oversized duffel and laid them out.

"What're you looking for?" Molls asked.

"Nothing really," Rose replied. "But this building used to be a school. It was abandoned a while back till it was renovated, at least, in my universe. This is a bit old, but it shows they did the same there, too, where the FBI agents came from."

Molls scanned the plan over Rose's shoulder. "That looks nothing like this place," she commented. "Nothing at all."

"You're telling me," Rose said. 

Telepathic translation definitely indicated alien technology. The walls were another clue: they were oddly stilted. To the casual eye, they were warped, but that wasn't it. They were constructed to have that slightly rippling shape. The schematics might be old, but they proved Rose's theory. There was no way all these rooms fit inside a building that was approximately one hundred feet by one hundred twenty feet.

"Doctor," Rose paged. "Doctor, I think I've got something for you."

"Rose?" Slade responded. "Are you looking for JD?"

"Yeah," Rose replied.

"Hold on," Slade said. 

"Jeet!" Dean shouted as he helped Gwen into the room. "Little help."

Molls moved over so Gwen could sit on the large sofa. Irwin wandered into the room moments later, still shaking.

"Looks like we're the injury-prone members of our parties," Gwen said quietly to Castle. 

"Good day to be a Castleberry," Castle replied. "Eh?"

"What the hell happened?" Jeet asked.

Dean looked up at Irwin. "He was possessed. He's better now, but there was a fight before that."

"I'm sorry I hurt you, Gwen," Irwin said darkly as he sat apart from everyone. 

"Looks like your shoulder is dislocated," Jeet said. "I'm going to need to set it. I've only got a temporary sling for you, but it should be okay for now."

"When you say 'set'," Gwen began. "You mean – "

But she was stopped by a sickening POP! Jeet held Gwen's arm up for another minute, inspecting it. Gwen's shock was clear on her face.

"Ow," she finally said when Jeet let her arm go. 

"Sorry, pathologist bedside manner," Jeet replied. "Let me get you that sling."

"When you say 'possessed,' what do you mean?" Rose asked. "Like a telepathic link or something?"

"Ghosts can possess people, but it usually takes a really pissed-off spirit to manage it. They take over your brain, body, everything. It's not telepathy or any of that science fiction crap you and your gangly friend peddle," Dean replied. He turned his attention to Irwin. "You okay?"

"No," Irwin said. "Not really."

For a few minutes, the room was silent as Jeet fixed Gwen up with a sling. 

"Is it supposed to hurt still?" Gwen asked. 

"It will be sore," Jeet replied. "If it's more than that let me know."

Rose paged the com again, "Slade?"

"Sorry, few more minutes," Slade replied immediately. 

"What's he doing?" Rose asked.

"Uh, something very complicated-looking," Slade lied quickly. "Involving both his hands, and – honestly, no idea. But he's fine."

"It's you," Irwin said to Rose.

"It's who?" Dean asked.

Irwin stared at Rose. "Your voice. I heard you talking to that JD person in the hall. You're behind all of this."

"What are you on about?" Rose asked. 

"Don't you dare," Irwin said, his voice rising. "I heard you and your... _partner_. He was telling you about how we're all waiting for the sun to rise, but it's never gonna come! You're part of this place!"

"JD didn't say anything like that to me," Rose replied. "If he had, you'd all know about it."

Irwin looked over to the two Gwens. "Castle, Gwen, can't you see it?"

Jeet sensed the impending danger. "Irwin, listen to me, this place is full of voices and echoes, you can't know – "

"I know what I heard!" Irwin objected. 

"Look, Rose Tyler and JD Jones are the best members of – " Jeet began.

Irwin cut her off, "Of course you'd say that! You came here with them! You're part of this!"

"Dude, seriously," Dean said as he stood up.

"Oh, you!" Irwin spat, turning on Dean. "You and your partner have been holding out on all of us since the beginning."

"Me? The guy who just saved your life?" Dean asked. 

Molls spoke up, "Calm down! Just calm down!"

Unconsciously, both Dean and Rose prepared to tackle him. 

Irwin's body became rigid as he turned to Molls. "You want me to calm down? We saw you dead a few minutes ago, and he," he pointed to Dean, "wants us to just pretend we didn't. Let it be a surprise for you. If he can lie to you about that, what else is he hiding?"

"I'm not _hiding_ anything," Dean said. 

"Irwin, I know you're upset, but – " Rose began.

Fury finally pushed him over the edge, and Irwin lunged at the closest person, Rose. His movements were erratic, jabbing and slashing with his hunter's knife. Dean grappled Irwin, trying to disarm him with an arm bar. But Irwin smashed his elbow up and back into Dean's neck, dropping him to his knees as he gasped violently for air. 

Irwin made another jab at Rose, who blocked the attack but received a slice along her forearm. Jeet finally got close enough to loop her arm around his right elbow. With a hard jerk, she broke his arm. Irwin screeched as Jeet took his other hand to cuff him. 

Rose pulled back, cradling her arm, and swooped down to check on Dean, who was still stunned. When she looked up again, Irwin roared. With his good arm, he threw Jeet to the ground, and then he raced straight for Rose, his knife ready now in his left hand - 

BANG! 

Blood erupted from Irwin's neck, splattering the wall and dripping down either side. It took Rose a moment to realize what had happened: Jeet had shot him through the neck. 

It seemed to take ages for his body to fall. 

"Everyone okay?" Jeet asked.

Dean coughed, hard. "Getting there," he said.

"I'll be okay," Rose said. "Just a scratch... or a bit more, but it's okay. It's not that bad."

Jeet holstered her gun and stepped over Irwin's body to check up on Dean and Rose.

"You shot him," Castle said. "You _shot_ him."

"Yes, I did," Jeet replied.

"Was he possessed again?" Gwen asked.

Dean shook his head, coughing. "No, that was all him."

"You didn't need to shoot him!" Castle said. 

Jeet stood up straight and turned to Gwen, Castle, and Molls, who had all taken cover by the sofa. "I broke his arm, and he attacked anyway. Either that was a psychotic break of some kind, or he thought he was fighting for his life – "

"And apparently he was!" Castle barked.

"I. Broke. His. Arm," Jeet said without apology. "And he kept attacking. What else could I do? You expect me to let him kill – "

"Okay, okay," Rose spoke up. "Everyone? Can we calm down?"

Castle stared at Irwin's body. "He's dead," she said simply. "He's gone."

"I'm sorry," Gwen said to Castle. "Really, I am."

"Let me bandage up that arm," Jeet said to Rose. 

Dean got to his feet and closed Irwin's eyes. "Sorry," he said. "Hell of an elbow, by the way."

The sound of running drew attention to the door, where the tall figure of Sam Winchester appeared. Vince-Vincent and Molly flanked him and followed him into the room.

"What the hell happened?" Sam asked. "The salt lines are all broken – "

"Irwin," Dean said. "This place got to him."

"He attacked, and I had to shoot him," Jeet explained. 

Dean searched through Irwin's jacket, retrieving salt rounds and such. He found Dawn Redding's camera tucked in the lower left pocket. 

"Well, it makes a bit more sense now," Dean mumbled. 

He turned to Sam. "He got possessed by a very pissed off spirit," Dean said as he held up the camera. "When he found this. Got it out of him, but he was sold on some kind of conspiracy thing. That's why he lost it."

"Possessed?" Molly asked. "What does that even mean?"

Before anyone could answer, the room erupted with movement. The sound of metal and wood clashing together, intertwined with violent screams and roars of triumph. 

Everyone froze, transfixed by the apparitions of several dozen people throughout the room, some of them intersecting with furniture or people and paying no mind. They were in pairs, fighting and dying and sounding off. And then a moment flickered through them. Their eyes were drawn up to the sky, and horror etched into their features. 

Fire fell from the sky, billowing out until the room was filled. 

In the next instant, everything evaporated, leaving the room as it had been. Everyone had instinctively ducked or taken cover before the fire hit, save for Castle, who remained leaning against the sofa.

"That's what I saw," she said. 

"You saw that?" Sam inquired.

"That battle. That fire from the sky. It was too dark to leave, but I tried. I tried to crawl out of the Trine in absolute darkness. My leg was trapped by something, and I saw that."

"That's it," Sam said.

"Sorry, what?" Rose asked.

"We've been going about this all wrong," Sam began. "The Trine. It exists, apparently, across two universes. Whatever caused it must have major mojo."

"Mondo mojo," Dean added.

"We should be looking at the stories," Sam said. "About how the Trine began."

"First things first," Dean said. "Salt lines."

"And Irwin," Molls added.

She and Castle wrapped Irwin in a sheet. Gwen stepped in when Castle's leg prevented her from carrying the body.

"If we could figure out how the Trine started, the first stories around it, maybe we could pinpoint the power that generated it," Sam said.

"You think that something created the Trine?" Gwen asked.

"Places like this aren't normal," Sam said simply. "Something caused it."

"Yeah," Rose said. "And I know some of the technology here isn't from Earth, but I haven't been able to identify it."

"I'm talking about the stories," Sam explained. "That's always the key to a haunting. And in this case, I think they'll be the key to figuring out whatever... alien technology might be involved."

"I cannot believe you just said that," Dean replied.

"We've run into aliens before," Sam pointed out.

"No, we ran into a Trickster punishment of aliens and fairies pretending to be aliens, not actual aliens," Dean said.

Rose didn't know what that meant, but she knew one person who knew the stories of the Trine better than anyone. 

"Doctor," Rose paged. "Doctor, you there?"

"He's doing something else," Slade hedged. "Still very complicated looking. Sorry I can't be more descriptive."

"You keep an eye on him, you hear me?" Rose asked.

"Will do," Slade replied.

Dean coughed loudly, reminding Rose to get on to business.

"Slade," Rose paged again. "Do you know how the Trine began?"

"Uh right," Slade replied over the com. "There're a few stories. One involves a cataclysm cursing the land evermore. Another said that a demon terrorized the forests, and when the people finally killed it, its blood poisoned the earth and tainted the souls for ten generations, perpetuating the festering evil."

"Dramatic," Rose said. 

"Oh, and one more. It's not as popular as the others, but it's pretty good," Slade replied. "A very long time ago, a young boy fled the wrath of his father, who killed his wife for producing only one son. So the child ran, trying to win his freedom by sheer distance. But no matter how long and hard he ran, he was still under his father's shadow. After many days he reached the Trine, and his tears were so big that they soaked the ground. And from the ground formed the messenger of the Brownies. The messenger asked the boy what he wanted, and the boy said, 'All I want is to be free of my father, who wants nothing more than to kill me.' And the Brownies granted his wish by wrapping him in the Trine, a place of shadow and mystery that would conceal him forever."

"A wish," Sam repeated. "The Trine was begun with a wish."

"That could be," Dean replied. "But freaking fairies didn't do it. Did they?" He stopped. "I can't believe I just said that out loud."

"You sound crazy," Molls said baldly. "All of you."

"Lady, we're in crazy town," Dean said. "Get used to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Microcosm** (Philosophy)  
>        n. a phenomenon that encapsulates the characteristic qualities or defining features of a larger counterpart


	7. Long Road out of Eden

**One year ago in London, England**. The Doctor wondered if his thinking speed had been reduced because this body only had one heart. Technically, oxygenated blood was required to facilitate healthy brain activity and therefore thought. He felt comforted by the idea that his present state could be explained by the physiological.

He had only been in this world for two days, and they had been easily the most complex and thorny hours of his life. And that was saying something. The changes flooded this life: a new body, shorter life span, a new universe sans-TARDIS. Moreover, The Doctor had grown accustomed to travel, specifically running off whenever he liked.

Pete and Jackie lived in the Southern Wing of the Tyler Mansion with Tony, age four. Rose set The Doctor up in a room across the hall from hers in the Northern Wing. He hadn't slept well that first night, too much thinking on his mind and blood on his hands.

The next day was all signatures and formal business. No more running off to other worlds. He needed a proper identity on Earth, one that would pass muster. Luckily, the Tylers had resources. 

The Doctor wandered back to his room that night. He hesitated at his door, wondering if he should try to talk to Rose. He stared at her door for several minutes, wondering what he would say. No, he'd leave it for tomorrow.

He opened his room's door and found Rose sitting by the window, waiting.

"Rose," he said. 

"Doctor. I just wanted to see if everything was okay. Heard you and Dad talking."

"A formal name," The Doctor said. "For paperwork. Isn't that brilliant? I have paperwork now. A proper identity. Me!"

"You've already got that," Rose replied.

"I suppose."

"So, you're now John Smith?" she asked. 

"No," he replied. "I was gonna do, but Pete pointed out that I've used that as an alias. I needed something new."

"What did you pick, then?"

"John Donald Martin Jones. Or, JD," he replied. "That sounds odd."

"Donald is for Donna?" Rose asked.

"She's part of me," he replied. "Seemed right."

"And Jones? For Harriet?" 

"And Martha."

Rose smiled. "As long as it's not Harkness."

They laughed.

"So, you're okay?" she asked. "I mean, you're basically stuck here. I don't mean this universe. I mean here. Takes you twelve hours to get around to the other side of the planet if you've got the right jet. Not quite the same as it was before."

"Well, stuck here with you?" he replied. "That's not so bad."

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied immediately. "Haven't we had this conversation before?" 

"I think we have, actually," she said. 

They were suddenly very close together. The Doctor wrapped his arms around Rose, and she reached up to his face, her fingers gently touching his cheek.

"I missed you," she whispered.

"I missed you," he replied.

 

 **The Old Parkman School**. The Doctor opened his eyes. That hadn't been a dream; it was a very distinct memory, exact in detail. Whatever put him out must've triggered it, but the only way that could happen – 

His head hurt. And his mind was winding up, forcing him to consider his surroundings, especially the smell.

There was another Time Lord nearby. Not a full Time Lord, by the smell of it, but someone else with Time Lord DNA. He forgot his pain and memory and sat up straight. 

He was in an antechamber for a command center, assuming that this was of Time Lord design. A stasis chamber was built into the wall, labeled in old Gallifreyan: DECEMBER.

Why would a Time Lord have a name like December? Maybe the Time Lords in this universe chose their titles differently. He approached the chamber and saw the suspended body of a woman, unconscious. Time Lords hadn't used stasis chambers in centuries, but maybe her non-Time Lord heritage required her to use it. But why was she still asleep? Clearly her ship had landed. 

The Doctor investigated the panel opposite the chamber. The system should've woken her up, but for some reason the ship had gone into emergency lock down. 

"Well, this explains the mauve alert," he said to himself. "You'd've been stuck here forever if no one came," he said to December.

The panel had an adjacent pad for an override command. It required a handprint. The screen flashed a message: TIME LORD DNA REQUIRED TO ACTIVATE OVERRIDE.

He glanced at December, suspended in time. Why would she require another Time Lord, or part-Time Lord, to override the lockdown, unless other Time Lords existed in this universe somewhere? He hadn't sensed any blip of his heritage here before, though. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe she had been locked away here for a thousand years, blasted out of the Time War or exiled for not being a full-blooded Time Lord. She could be insane. Or a criminal.

But no matter what, she was part-Time Lord. And this was her ship, or what was left of it. And if her ship was wrapped up in the time echoes, then he'd need her help to figure out what was going on. 

So he placed his right hand on the override.

Immediately his vision blurred, and he felt his mind rushing into overdrive. Everything came in stops and starts; the words and images didn't match up. Flashes of Gallifrey, his own childhood, The Master as Harold Saxon, the Time Lords in their final days of the Time War. 

And all the while, he heard words as if they came from his own lips, "Something is returning... not someone, _something_. Gallifrey... Everything's coming through... The horde of travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-Have-Been King and his army of Meanwhiles and Never-Weres... Hell is descending! You weren't there, in the final days of the War. You never saw what was born."

Then the voice of Rassilon, "The End of Time will come at _my hands_. The rupture will continue until it rips the time vortex apart...ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone, free of time and cause and effect while creation itself ceases to be."

"That's what they were planning," The Doctor said. "I had to stop them." 

His body ached as he remembered the Medusa Cascade. He took the Moment and sealed the rift in the Medusa Cascade, his title abandoned and his name, his true name, burned into the stars till it was a forgotten nothing on the solar wind. That was a memory. Everything else was nonsense. He had burned The Master's remains - 

As if the thought of his name were enough, additional moments suddenly engulfed him. His own voice, "Get out of the way." Then it was echoed back to him by the Master, "Get out of the way." In the end, the Master saved him - 

And then the flood surged. Memories of Barbara and Ian to Donna Noble intertwined. Every companion, every traveler who had joined him, every person he ever loved and lost.

"Does it need saying?" he said to Rose. 

But _he_ hadn't said that to her.

"It would be my honor," he said to Wilf. Then to someone else, "Two thousand five? Tell you what. I bet you're going to have a really great year."

"I don't want to go..." 

No, these weren't his memories. At least, not all of them were. Somehow, The Doctor - The _Other_ Doctor - his memories from the other universe were leaking through, cascading around him like they were drawn to him.

He became aware of someone repeating, "Are you okay?" He didn't recognize the voice.

The last thing he heard, and he supposed it must have been his own voice, though it didn't feel like it, was one word: "GERONIMO!"

 

Slade paged the com again. "So, JD is checking out a room, and the door's stuck. He's fine, I'm sure. I'm labeling the door now." 

It took everything Slade had not to scream into the com, to warn all of them that a horrible death awaited them upstairs, but he held his peace. All he had to do was ensure that none of the others came to the second floor. They couldn't die in a place they'd never been.

Rose replied, "Why isn't he answering his com?"

"His was on the fritz," Slade lied. 

"All right, I'm coming up," she said.

Slade bit his lip. If she came up alone, that would be all right. It would have to be. "I've drawn a giraffe on the door," he said calmly. 

"Sorry, can you say that again?" Dean asked.

"A giraffe on the door. That's how I labeled it."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Because it sticks out and it's not something people usually draw. No matter what kind of weird time ghost things are here, I doubt they'll be scribbling giraffes anywhere."

"With that kind of logic, how could he be wrong?" Dean said over the com. 

Slade didn't respond. He heard something from across the way, the room adjacent. It was like a feverish scrapping, like someone trying to scratch up a floor or dig through a door. Slade peeked in, wondering if he had somehow mixed up the doors and forgotten where JD was.

But he hadn't.

Inside, he saw himself with a knife and what looked like a slender, wooden table leg. Its edge looked like it had once been a member of a rather ornate piece of furniture. He was sharpening it into a stake. Maybe he did have a doppelganger, like the others - 

But in the next instant, he was gone. And apart from where he was before, someone stood, hunched over. He couldn't make out who it was because a long sheet was wrapped around his body and face.

It was definitely his own voice that spoke from under that sheet. "You need to finish the story."

"Me?" Slade asked. "Are you me? Or a copy of me? Who are you?"

The stranger ignored Slade's question and continued, overlapping. "You're the only one who can finish the story. You're the writer after all. That's why you're here."

"I hate endings," Slade replied tritely.

The stranger replied, "You hate endings, but this one you're born to."

"That's it," Slade snapped, moving to the stranger. "Enough with the cryptic remarks, okay? That's bad writing, and I know it!"

His hands passed through the sheet like it wasn't even there. Slade stepped back, confused. If this wasn't another Slade, then what was it? 

The stranger's hands reached out from under the sheet, revealing the scars from third degree burns. 

"Don't be afraid, even when it hurts," the stranger said. He pointed to another door, two over from the one marked with his giraffe. "Go."

The stranger flickered and disappeared.

 

Sam took out the digital camera, moving the stream marker back to the beginning. 

"Dude, what are you doing?" Dean asked. "After what happened with Irwin? Not a good idea."

"What Slade said, that story about tears and Brownies, I think I've heard something similar before," he replied. "I think Dawn recorded something about it, at the very beginning before coming into the Trine. Hold on."

_...is Dawn Redding. I'll be the main cameraperson for our excursion into the Trine. We're heading out tomorrow morning, but tonight we all shared our Trine stories. Since we didn't capture that on tape, I'm going to record mine now._

_About twenty years ago, when I was seven, my parents and I camped out in the Trine. A storm came in, and we needed shelter, so we found a secure spot inside the school. Oh, uh, side note: This was before they renovated the building into a shelter. At that point it had been abandoned for, oh, I dunno, about ten years I guess. Maybe more, actually. Anyway, the abandoned Parkman School was left to rot, but it was still sturdy enough to withstand a storm. Better than a tent anyway. So we set up our tent inside one of the rooms. I remember it had two and a half walls..._

Dawn gave a clever smile as she remembered. It made Sam's heart break a little, knowing she had been beaten to death the next day.

_When my parents were arguing, I stepped out into the hall and saw someone. Not a ghost. A solid person. Mostly. It wasn't that he wasn't solid. It was more like he had too much shadow. If normal people are two-percent shadow, then he had twenty-percent shadow. That kind of thing. He saw me and smiled._

_'Who are you?' he asked._

_'Dawn,' I replied. 'Who are you?'_

_'I don't know anymore. I came here a long time ago and haven't ever left.'_

_I asked him what he'd do that for. Seemed very silly._

_'Well,' he said. 'My father was not a good man, and I couldn't escape him. I tried, but he always found me. So one night, an angel appeared to me. Told me his name was Sampson and that he could grant me any wish I asked for.'_

_'An angel granted you a wish?' I asked._

_'Yes,' he said. 'I told him I wished to be safe from my father forever. To be free of his hatred and abuse. And he told me he could give me that, but that for all my life, the only friends I could ever hope to have would be but fleeting phantoms. Like the light at dawn and dusk, they would appear clearly for a little while, then disappear. I would be safe, but completely alone.'_

_'And you said yes?' I asked. 'You could've just asked him to kill your father, couldn't you?'_

_'Would you?' the boy asked me._

_'I guess not.' Then I said, 'But you can see me, right? I'm not a ghost. I'm right here!'_

_'For now,' he said. I remember his face... it was like the sadness suspended him there for a few moments. 'But in a few moments, you'll be home, and I'll be alone.'_

_I told him I'd stay with him. No one should have to be alone like that. 'You would stay with me?' he asked. And I said, 'Of course I would. I don't mind phantoms one bit.'_

_'Take my hand,' he said. And he held out his hand... and it was like smoke or vapor, but I reached out to him anyway. My hand passed straight through him, like he wasn't even there, but I could feel him. I could feel his hand. For a moment, our hands were the same._

_And then he was gone. I couldn't see him, or hear him, or anything. I waited. I whispered to him, 'Come back, I'll wait. I'll be here all night.' And I was, after all, we were camped. But I didn't see him again._

_I'd go back there, of course, trying to find the same spot at the same time. When I was a teenager, I tried time of day, time of year, position of the sun, position and state of the moon. And every once in a while, I would see that same face, those eyes. I'd hear his voice in the abandoned parts of the building..._

_When they renovated it, I was afraid my phantom was gone forever. That somehow they destroyed him along with the inside of the building, but he was still there. I never got to speak to him like that again, but that lonely voice, those hollow eyes... I could feel him there, sometimes._

_That's why I'm going into the Trine. There's a man in there who once was a boy so terrorized by his own father that an angel granted him a wish at a terrible price. And I'm going to find that man and set him free._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Long Road Out of Eden** (The Eagles)  
>  Silent stars blinking in the blackness of an endless sky  
> Cold silver satellites,   
> Ghostly caravans passing by  
> Galaxies unfolding, new worlds being born  
> Pilgrims and prodigals creeping toward the dawn  
> But it's a long road out of Eden
> 
> We're riding to utopia road map says we'll be arriving soon  
> Captains of the old order clinging to the reins  
> Assuring us these aches inside are only growing pains  
> But it's a long road out of Eden
> 
> Behold the bitten apple, the power of the tools  
> But all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools  
> And it's a long road out of Eden...


	8. Quantum Phantom

**Somewhere and sometime near the Medusa Cascade...** The Doctor always regretted coming here; it was a wonder he returned at all. Of course, the fifteenth broken moon was beautiful.

The TARDIS took a hard turn as River directed them away from another explosion. 

"There goes the main unit of the Cybermen fleet," River replied. "Looks like The Flesh have this well in hand – "

"Exactly!" The Doctor chimed. "We did our bit, warning them, and look at them go!"

"You're agreeing with me?" she asked. "That we should leave?"

"You sound surprised," he protested as he began setting the TARDIS on a new course.

"Two minutes ago, you told me we had to stop the Cybermen," she replied. "We couldn't possibly leave."

"That was before," The Doctor dismissed. 

"You mean before The Flesh proved they could overpower their forces?"

"No, 'course not, I knew that already. I've actually been to this battle before, just the bit at the end. But, it'll be ending soon, and me meeting myself is always a bad idea, so – " he slammed a hand pedal up and they disappeared into the time vortex. 

"Doctor, where are we going?" River demanded, trying to read his settings. "You still don't know how to calibrate her, do you?"

"Oh, you're never any fun!" The Doctor protested. 

"Doctor!"

"I got a psychic message," he replied as he stumbled into her. "From earth. Very important."

"But she's flying us back to the fourth century," River protested. "No one from that time can send you a psychic message!"

"Exactly!" he boomed. "So what are they doing there?"

River flipped on the stabilizers and modified the engine settings. "You are blooming mad sometimes," she replied.

"Sometimes?" he asked, almost hurt. 

They appeared just above the Earth. 

"What did you do?" he asked. "We were supposed to land in Florida!"

"You had it set to land on the moon," River replied.

"Did I?" he asked. "Of course I did. Lovely view during the fourth century."

The scanner lit up and a bleeping began. 

"No, no, no, no!" he said quickly. "Definitely bad. Very, very bad!"

"Is that the sensor for combatant ships?" River asked. "When did you fix it?"

She checked the monitor and saw that a dozen smaller Cyberman ships were right behind them. 

"How did they do that?" she asked. "They can't travel in the time vortex. Their ships aren't made for it."

"They locked on to the TARDIS and used it like a life preserver," The Doctor replied. "They floated into this time with us."

He scrambled with the controls, throwing levers and flipping switches. "We can't leave a single ship, River. Not one. So if you have any of those things – "

"Suggestion?"

"Yes, those! Then now's the time!"

 

 **The Old Parkman School in Zolfo Springs, Florida**. The Doctor woke up the floor, his body covered in sweat. It took him a few minutes to remember where he was. 

"Ow," he said. 

"You're weird," a woman said. 

He dimly recognized her as person from the stasis chamber. She had fierce green eyes, dark auburn hair, and a medium skin tone that seemed somewhere between Olive and Southeast Asian. She had the air of confidence about her and a shrewd grin on her face. 

"How am I weird?" he said from the floor.

"You're off," she replied. "Can't explain it."

"Different universe." 

"No, that's not it," she said. "I've met people from other universes before."

"You're half-Time Lord," he changed the topic. 

"Half-human," she said. "You're... sort of the same, I guess."

"Quite right," The Doctor replied as he got to his feet. 

"You weren't born that way."

"Human biological meta-crisis."

"You grew out of a person?" 

He nodded. Whatever knocked him to the ground seemed to pass. "December," he said. "Why are you here?"

She looked at him sideways, as if addressing her by name seemed odd to her. "Spotted a bit of overlapping space-time on Earth, thought I'd come in and clean up the mess," she replied. "Apparently not doing a great job."

"You don't seem surprised," he said. 

"About what?"

"That I'm here."

"'Course not. Been gone long enough, someone was bound to come along," she said. "Who are you, by the way?"

"The Doctor, but on Earth my name is JD," he replied. "So you're not the only one?"

"Only what?"

"Time Lord. Part Time Lord."

"You _are_ from a different universe," December replied. 

"I've already said."

"That explains it."

"Explains what?"

She smiled. "There aren't any more Time Lords left. Not full-blood Time Lords, anyway. Not since generations back when we spread out across the universe."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Why?" he asked. 

"Why not?" she replied.

He wasn't sure if she was telling the truth, but he also needed to address the problem at hand. 

"Look, December," he said, "we came here – my partner, me, and one other, and a stowaway – because of a mauve alert."

"Ah, that was me."

"Right, but why? Why were you in that stasis chamber to begin with?"

"I guess I crashed," December replied. "If I'm injured in a crash, the ship is programmed to store me and call for help."

"What caused you to crash?" he asked.

"Good question."

 

 **In another universe.** The Doctor and River tried everything to get readings, but the TARDIS was giving them slightly less than nothing. Cyberman ships through the time vortex, mysterious messages from fourth-century earth... all of it added up to a hot, screaming mess.

"What was the psychic message?" River asked.

"How do you mean?" The Doctor asked in reply.

"The message that got you here," she said. "When we were in the middle of a battle thousands of years in the future."

"It was... amplified memories," he hedged. 

"Of what?"

"My last regeneration. The events that led up to it."

"Oh, sweetie, hiding things from me is futile," she said. "Out with it."

"There was a meta-crisis – " he began.

"Handy," River cut him off. "Your spare hand plus Donna Noble. I've known about that for ages."

"Then why – oh you!" The Doctor snapped. "You just wanted to... to, what exactly?"

"If you don't know, how can you be so offended?" 

"Because I know that face. That's your I-got-him-to-do-something-I-wanted-and-he-doesn't-know-it face."

River smiled back at him. "Out with the rest of it. So Handy amped up your memories."

"Except he wasn't there – I mean, he was over in the other universe the last time I regenerated. So something bigger is going on."

"And?" River prompted.

"And wherever he is, he's with Rose Tyler."

"Ah, there it is."

"Look it's not... I don't... it's one of those things."

"Those things?"

"Yes, it's a thing and it happens. Thus, 'those things.' One of."

"Oh I love it when you think you're in trouble with me," River pushed.

"You didn't know me then," The Doctor replied. "Between the last Time War and when I met you. Donna. She was the one who gave me friendship. Martha, she was the one who kept me going, kept me caring about people and the world. But Rose? She was the first one who traveled with me after... everything. I was a resentful hero, a hateful benefactor. And she reminded me that I was better. She made me better. I can't abandon her, River, I can't."

"If Handy is there with her, then you haven't abandoned her," River said.

The Doctor kept working, unwilling to give up. 

"Doctor, you can see the monitor, and it's right."

"It's not right. It can't be."

"They're nowhere," River said simply. 

"I understand that!" The Doctor said, raising his voice. "The trouble isn't that they're nowhere, River! It's that they don't know that they're nowhere! They can't know. They don't have the equipment because I kept it all!" 

"Sweetie," River began. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to help them," The Doctor said, his voice returning to normal.

"All right, let's help them."

 

 **The Old Parkman School**. Immediately after Rose left, Sam and Dean started leafing through a few handwritten books they had with them.

"Is that your homework?" Jeet asked.

"These are journals from other people who worked similar jobs," Dean replied. "We're trying to find a countermeasure for a wish."

"You know how ridiculous you sound," Jeet said. "Right?"

"Sorry, you're the chick who keeps talking about aliens, right?" Dean shot back.

"Don't call me a chick, you block," Jeet retorted.

Sam laughed. "Sorry, 'block,' that's good."

Vincent and Gwen rifled through their packs. Molls soon joined them. 

"You guys all doing a film shoot or something?" Castle asked. 

"I'm hungry," Vincent replied.

"And I need another layer," Molls added. "It's cold."

"If you want," Sam offered. "We could take watch. Try to get some rest. It'll only be a few more hours before we head out."

Vincent retreated to one of the sofas with some beef jerky. "I don't think I'll be sleeping anytime soon."

Uncomfortable silence filled the room for several minutes, punctuated only by the sounds of turned pages and chewed beef. 

A bell rang. It resonated throughout the room like heavy bass thumping. 

"What is that?" Molls asked.

Figures of Vincent and Molls erupted into the room, exact down to their clothing. They passed by the main awning in the room, which propped a large bell. The sound was definitely coming from that bell, and as soon as Vincent and Molls passed under it, they stopped. The ringing continued, but they were frozen in place.

"What the hell is this?" Vincent asked.

"Bad," Molls said. "It's... bad."

The figures became pale, then sickly white, and then their eyes became vacant. Their bodies were like grotesque mannequins, their jaws agape and their eyes deep in their sockets. 

"Just an echo," Sam said, trying to keep everyone calm. "Not ghosts. It's okay."

"Does this mean we die?" Molls asked, staring at her own dead body. 

"That could be me," Molly said. 

"No, that's my sweater," Molls replied quietly. She stared, transfixed and horrified at her pale corpse, still standing next to Vincent. 

"If this means we die, then... Jeet," Vincent said. "You need to know. We saw an echo of you decapitated earlier."

"What?" Jeet asked.

Sam replied, "We assumed it was your other universe person."

"That can't be a thing," Dean said. 

"You saw me decapitated?" Jeet asked. 

"I don't know," Sam replied. His head felt like it would explode. "And I can't _think_ with that noise!" 

The bell's resonance pitched up, just like Vince's scream outside in the tree.

Molly started to sing, and Molls joined her. Sam didn't recognize the song, but he could tell that whatever they were singing was in Latin. It was beautiful.

It was a nice distraction from the reality that Molly was helping Molls serenade her own corpse.

 

Slade found himself in another room, and he wasn't alone. A young man with thin, handsome features sat at the window. Unlike all the other rooms, this one was furnished and felt lived in. 

"Hello?" Slade asked.

The man turned, revealing greater age – and more sorrow – than Slade had initially observed.

"You're real," the man said.

"I'm Slade, who are you?"

"Sage," he replied. "My name is Sage. And you, Slade. You're real."

"Yes, I'm real."

"When I came here, I was told I would never see anyone else here but fleeting ghosts and whispers."

"You should get out of your room more often," Slade replied. "There's a bunch of us, gathered downstairs. Waiting for daylight so we can leave this place."

"You're leaving this place?" Sage asked.

"You interested?" Slade replied.

The com paged. "Slade?" Rose's voice asked. "I don't see you at all."

Slade replied, "I marked the door. You see it?"

"Well, yeah."

"Go on, then," he paged back.

Sage asked, "Who's that?"

"She's a member of our party. Like I said, a bunch of us. The question is, who are you?"

 

The tolling finally stopped. Molls and Molly ended their song. Everyone looked miserable. 

"You think those were future echoes?" Castle asked. 

"There's no actual bell," Vincent observed. 

"No, hasn't been for years," Gwen observed. "They took it out with the renovations."

"Well, then," Dean said. "Let's hope the future can be changed."

His breath misted. Sam noticed it and immediately became alert. 

The com paged. "Just letting you lot know, Slade is MIA. I'm heading in to find the – to find JD. Is everything okay?" Rose asked.

Molls paged back. "Not even remotely."

"We're all in one piece," Sam asserted. 

Because Molls was right. It was getting colder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Quantum Phantom** (Quantum Mechanics)  
>        n. slang term for an observable phenomenon [on the quantum level] wherein widely separated objects influence one another with nothing traveling between them


	9. Welcome to the Machine

Sam and Dean took up defensive positions as soon as the temperature dropped, but nothing happened. At some point, Molls grabbed a blanket and threw it over her and Castle. Gwen joined them. All three were either trying to sleep or nearly there.

"I thought you said a spirit can't cross a salt line," Molly said.

"Some spirits can find other ways in," Dean replied.

Jeet flipped through the notebooks Dean and Sam had, much to their displeasure. 

"You said we needed to figure this out," she said. "So let me look through here while you point your guns."

Vincent paced the room, checking the salt lines and windows. Jeet noticed that he was very agitated, but then again, he had just seen his own suspended corpse. Maybe a little agitation was best. Before Jeet looked away, she saw something blur around him, like a hologram or a passing shadow.

Gwen jerked awake next to Molls. She got up from the sofa and leaned against one of the walls, as if stretching.

"Listen," Sam said to Molls. "Dean and I have beat worse odds, okay? So just because you saw something... That doesn't mean it's gonna happen."

The com went off. "It's Slade. I'm coming back down."

"Rodger," Dean replied.

Molly went to Vincent, putting her hand on his shoulder. 

"It's going to be all right," she said. "I'm not going to lose you again."

She pulled him into a hug, but he said nothing. "What's wrong?"

He lowered his voice so the others wouldn't hear. "It's just... It seems impossible. All we've managed to do so far is get lost and manage not to die."

"Don't talk like that."

"It's this room," he continued. "We're all cramped in here like refugees, with nothing to do but stare at each other. They're all up in arms because the room is cold. I mean... who has hope in that kind of situation?"

"I do."

"You always do," he replied fondly. 

He held her for a few moments, watching Castle and Molls sleep and Gwen lean moodily against the wall. 

"Do you trust me?" Vincent asked. 

"Always," she replied, nearly burying her face into his chest.

Sam was surprised by the dramatic change in Molly's behavior towards Vincent, and now he found himself becoming suspicious. Vincent caught Sam's worried glance at the pair of them, and he gave him a weak smile.

The lights flickered, and Sam and Dean moved in. "Everyone get near the sofa," Dean barked. "Go on, move!"

Wind picked up, a hailstorm force, and whined as it billowed against the building. The lights went out, leaving everyone scrambling for flashlights. Jeet managed to turn hers on first. 

"Okay, roll call," Jeet said. "Jeet."

"Vincent."

"Molly."

"Molls."

"Castle."

"Sam."

"Dean."

Castle asked, "Gwen? Where is Gwen?"

"Shit," Dean said. "Okay, me and Jeet, we'll do a quick sweep. Everyone else, stay here."

It took far too long to adjust to the dim lighting; Dean found himself slipping and tripping. And soon all anyone could see was the light from Dean and Jeet's flashlights.

"Why hasn't the power come back on yet?" Jeet asked. "Usually it just flickers."

"Notice how cold this room is?" Dean asked. "Pissed-off spirits are either here or managed to become corporeal enough to damage the electrical system."

"I don't see her."

"Me neither."

They turned back to the center of the lobby, and the lights bumped back on. 

"Small mercy," Jeet said as she turned off her flashlight. 

"Vincent?" Molls asked. 

"Molly?" Castle called.

Sam was already looking for them, but there wasn't a sign of either person.

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Dean said. "In the last, what, three seconds, we've lost Gwen, Vincent, and Molly?"

"Dean, check the other lines," Sam instructed. "There was a break to this door outside."

"And over here," Jeet said, fixing the line of salt on one of the windowsills. 

"Gwen? Molly? Vincent?" Dean paged through the coms. "Can any of you answer me?"

Dean walked to the main door, but Sam stopped him.

"What?" Dean asked.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Chances are they didn't just wander off," Dean replied.

"Or maybe they did," Sam pointed out. 

"Seriously, Sam?"

"Let's just page them again before we go chasing after them, all right?" Sam said. He used his com, "Gwen? If you can hear me, please just page us back. Molly? Vincent?"

 

Vincent and Molly did, in fact, leave the lobby of their own accord. Or, at least Molly did. They strolled, arm and arm, outside in the garden of strange plants and craggy trees.

Vince had waited for Molly for nearly two hundred years in this empty place. And when she arrived again, he was certain that he would be able to pull himself through to the other side to be with her.

But the past hour had proved that he was an intruder in the physical plane. Vincent was very much alive, and while Vince could repress Vincent's mind, he had to exert a massive amount of force, which changed the room's temperature, among other things. The more he tried to keep this body, the more angry he became and the less control he had.

"Vince, what are we doing out here?"

His eyes lit up when she used his name, his _real_ name.

"Sorry. I just - we're alone, so I thought it would be okay to call you Vince again," Molly said. 

"It's wonderful," Vince replied with Vincent's mouth.

"Then, can I ask you... How are you alive?"

"You know it's me Molly," Vince said, putting on Vincent's best smile. "I proved that to you."

"But we found your blood, and we saw – I thought you were dead," she replied. "And if you're not dead, then, did your copy die? What happened?"

"This place," he began. "It's too much. I don't even know where to begin."

"It just seems too good to be true," Molly admitted. "I know I shouldn't be happy that someone else is dead, but if it means you're alive, then, I don't care."

The wind picked up a bit, and Vince wrapped Vincent's arms around her to keep her from the cold.

Molly heard the sounds of a door opening and what could've been Dean and Sam talking. The wind made it difficult to be certain. 

"You're right," Vince said with Vincent's sad little smile. 

"Right about what?" she asked. 

The clouds overhead looked ominous. Molly hadn't noticed them when they came out, otherwise she'd've stayed inside. Pinpricks of flashlight hit the trees opposite them. Perhaps the others had noticed the storm getting closer and were coming to warn them?

"Being too good to be true. But that doesn't mean we can't be together. I came back for you."

She looked up at him. "Came back? From where?"

"I took this body for you," he said.

Molly pulled away, but his grip on her was tight. "What does that mean?" she demanded.

"Don't worry," Vince said sincerely with Vincent's lips. "It's going to be okay."

The storm flared up, and wind and rain began in earnest. 

"Vince? Vince - " Molly began. 

Then she saw it. His body rippled with a shadow, and another form was superimposed on him. It lasted only for a moment, but it was enough for her to see the truth.

"You're dead?" Molly asked. "You... died, and, what, thought you could just possess this man and it would be okay?"

Dean, Sam, and Jeet rounded the corner with shotguns and iron chains. They pushed through the torrential weather and made a beeline straight for them.

"I wasn't thinking straight," Vince replied. "But I am now. Don't worry, Molly. I love you."

She turned away and wriggled out of Vince's grasp just as the downpour reached them. 

"Vincent!" Dean yelled as Molly pulled away. "Leave her alone!"

Vincent turned back, his face disfigured by the scream that plastered Vince's face in the final moments of his life. He held up his hand and lightning struck, forcing the three of them to bank a hard left. 

"How the hell is he doing this?" Sam asked. "He's just a ghost, he shouldn't have the power to command lightning!"

"I thought you said they could," Jeet replied, yelling to be heard over the wind. "That they could control physical elements."

"Wind, maybe rain if it's raining, but a huge storm like this?" Dean yelled back. "We've got to stop him."

"But Vincent... that's his body. We can't shoot him," Jeet protested.

"I can eject the ghost, but we have to get close enough," Sam replied. "We might have to shoot him."

"I'm _not_ shooting him!" Jeet repeated.

Lightning stuck again. 

"No time to argue," Dean said. "We have to get close."

Drenched, Molly stumbled to the closest door. Her legs felt weak, and her focus was going as she became dizzy. The earth behind her was soaked, but just in front of her, where she hadn't walked, it was completely dry. She tried to get inside, but she was suddenly so cold that it hurt to move. She collapsed with her back to the door.

Jeet and Dean went straight for Vince-Vincent, who had no problem maneuvering the wind against them. Dean fired at him, but missed completely. 

Jeet elbowed him hard in the ribs. "I said no shooting!" 

"Help!" Molly said weakly, fumbling for her com. "I'm at the side door, let me in... let me... in... side door..." 

She mumbled this over and over again. It occurred to her that Vince, or Vincent, should be nearby, but she couldn't see him. There was just the door, the darkness, and the endless rain pouring over her. She shivered and curled up into a ball. 

Sam managed to outflank Vincent the long way, finally wrapping an iron chain around his chest and pulling him to the ground. Vince screamed in pain, but there was nothing he could do. His spirit blasted out of Vincent's body, leaving Sam and Vincent on the ground, soaking wet and covered in mud.

"It's going to be okay," Molly whispered. "That's what he said." She uncurled, leaning her body back against the door so she could sit upright. The shivering wasn't that bad anymore, and it was only a matter of time before the rain passed. She just had to wait it out, and what better place than here?

The storm cleared suddenly. 

Jeet and Dean helped Sam and Vincent up.

"You okay, man?" Sam asked Vincent.

He shook his head. "Where's Molly?"

Jeet had already gone after her with Dean on her heels. They found Molly by the door, just as Dean remembered seeing her: pale skin, red eyes. Jeet checked for vitals. There was nothing.

"She's dead."

"How?" Dean asked.

"I would guess hypothermia," Jeet replied. "Given the lack of injuries."

"Doesn't that take time?" Dean asked. "If we warm her up, is it possible – "

"No," Jeet replied. "Technically, yes, it could happen, but... she didn't just die a few seconds ago, Dean."

"How long?"

"Hard to tell with a death like hypothermia," she replied. "But if she had only been gone a few minutes, she'd... not look like this. This discoloration? The red eyes? That takes time."

Dean lifted Molly's body over his shoulder. "We can't leave her body. So we're going to warm her up. If she's dead, then, when she's dry, we'll burn her."

Jeet stared at Dean in a way he didn't quite understand. 

"What?" Dean asked her.

"I know you want to try, but... she's gone," Jeet said. "Trust me." The look she gave him, it was pity.

Dean didn't respond; he just turned back to Sam and Vincent.

"Is she okay?" Vincent asked. "Please, tell me – "

"No," Dean cut him off. "We're going to get her dry and warm just to be sure, come on." He continued back to the lobby.

"Just to be sure of what?" Vincent asked.

"You're not dead," Sam said, "until you're warm and dead." He moved ahead to catch up with Dean.

"She's gone," Jeet said simply. "I'm sorry."

Vincent's gait was unsteady, so Jeet helped him. "None of this was your fault," she said.

"I tried - I tried to warn you, but..." he stopped. 

Sam caught up to Dean, who was out of an earshot of Jeet and Vincent. 

"Dude, what's going on?" Sam asked Dean.

"I saw this," Dean replied.

"What do you mean?"

"When we were going room to room, we saw Molly dead. We saw her body just like that, propped up against that door."

"You couldn't've known."

"That's not the damn point, Sammy," Dean snapped. "The point is, you said you saw Jeet dead, too. And then Vincent and Molls, both dead. Maybe people have seen you or me dead and didn't think to mention it."

"Dean, we can't freak out," Sam replied. "There's too much crazy in this place already."

"There was a ghost in the room with us, Sam," Dean spat. "That whole time Vincent was in there, he was possessed. And we didn't notice."

"He wasn't a typical spirit," Sam replied. "He had... specific motivation. He was trying to be human."

"We're losing people. Maybe we should forget the damn sunrise and just move the fuck out now."

"You mean now that four of us are soaking wet?" Sam asked. "Great plan."

"You got a better idea?"

Sam replied simply, "We regroup."

 

 **About twenty minutes previous...** Gwen moved to join the others on the couch, but something stopped her. She could barely make out the shape, but she was quite certain it was a large dog. It wasn't too far off, limping and staggering. 

She only meant to go into the hall to coax it into the lobby. But the dog had gone farther than that. But not too far, so she followed after it, as quickly as possible.

The dog looked back at her. Its eyes were unnaturally beautiful.

"I'm here to help," she whispered. "Come on, I'm not going to hurt you."

The dog turned and disappeared up the stairs. Gwen hadn't realized she'd gotten that far from the lobby.

Her com turned on with Dean's voice loud and clear. "Gwen? Molly? Vincent? Can any of you answer me?"

She ignored it and climbed the stairs. Right before she reached the top, Sam's voice came through. "Gwen? If you can hear me, please just page us back. Molly? Vincent?"

Gwen made a mental note to respond later, but she didn't want to lose this dog. Once she was on the landing, she spotted it again, heading right for Rose, who was knocking on a door with an odd drawing across it.

"Doctor?" Rose said loudly at the door. "Doctor? Can you hear me? Please, let me in!"

 

December kept trying to open the door to the command center, but the lockdown wasn't lifting. 

"Need some help?" The Doctor asked.

"No, I'm okay, it's just this lockdown," she replied. "It shouldn't be this complicated. I'm guessing that there's a whole lot of weird out there. Am I right?"

"With a bit more weird on top," he replied. 

An odd feeling passed over him, like he left a centrifuge on and hadn't checked the vials. "How long have I been here?" 

"You mean, in the antechamber?" she asked. "Can't be entirely certain but at least an hour. Probably two."

"Two hours?" The Doctor repeated. "She's going to kill me for not checking in." He tried his com, "Rose?"

"You can't use that in here," December replied. "Not until I lift the lockdown."

"Which door did I come through?" he asked.

December pointed without looking; she was too engrossed in her work to turn away. 

"Open it," he said.

"What for?"

"Rose," he replied. "She's on the other side."

December let out a half-laugh that caught The Doctor's attention. "What?" he asked.

"Well, even part Time Lords can't feel just anyone through a bilocal transport door."

"You mean this door - your ship isn't a room in the building?" he asked.

"Of course it is," December dismissed. "Well, sort of."

"What kind of technology – "

"Hold on, here we go," December said, flipping a switch. 

The door opened.

"Doctor?" Rose said as she stepped inside. Her voice caught December's full attention at least.

"Sorry, small technical difficulty," he replied as he pulled her into a hug. "Uh, who're they?" he asked.

Rose turned as Gwen and the dog entered. "Oi, when did you get upstairs?"

"You didn't see us?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, that's my... Well, technically that was me," December replied. "Byproduct of my repurposed chameleon circuit. It can have these effects if you're in the liminal space between where the circuit conceals and where it conceals from."

"Chameleon circuit?" Rose repeated. "But isn't that – "

"Sorry, before we do all that," The Doctor said, his eyes never leaving the dog. "Which one are you?"

"I'm Gwen. I mean, the one that goes by Gwen."

"And why did you come upstairs? Were you checking on Rose?" The Doctor asked.

"No, I saw this dog, and he was hurt, so... I guess I sort of followed him," Gwen replied. "Stupid, I know, but..."

December had cottoned on and turned her attention. "I don't know about stupid," December said, "but I'm fairly certain that that isn't a dog. You mind coming over here with me, uh, Gwen was it?"

Gwen obliged.

Rose spoke, "What're you on about? Of course it's a dog."

The Doctor gently pulled Rose behind him. "Who are you?" he asked the dog.

The dog looked up at The Doctor with its beautiful blue eyes. Blue _human_ eyes. First he sat back on his haunches, then he stood up, like a bear. And then, as a curtain falls, his shape shifted. He had ape-like features that merged cruelly with some other kind of quadruped mammal. His feet and legs were all wrong, and his elbows didn't seem right, but his face held traces of his humanity.

"Can you speak?" The Doctor asked.

"My name," he began sadly. "Was Remy Greenberg before I came here. Now? Now, I'm not sure."

As if the energy exerted from talking had drained him, he collapsed and his body shook violently.

"He's seizing," December said. "Quick, get him into the stasis chamber."

"What for?" Rose asked.

"We need to stabilize him," December replied. "No questions, just do it."

The Doctor and Gwen managed to get him on his side, but he was over two hundred pounds. 

"If we don't get him into this chamber," December said as she managed to wrench open the door. "This seizure is going to do a lot of brain damage, assuming it doesn't kill him."

 

 **About ten minutes previously...** Molls and Castle waited alone in the lobby.

"You think they'll come back?" Molls asked.

"I guess they will," Castle replied.

"You think, I mean, honestly think, Castle, that we're going to get out of here?" Molls asked.

"How long have we been here?" Castle asked. 

Molls checked her watch. "Huh," she said. "We got to the Trine... about, when?"

"Dunno, just past three."

"My watch says three twenty-one in the afternoon," Molls said. "That's when we got here."

"Is it broken?"

Molls began to fiddle with her watch, but as soon as she released the gears, it reverted back to the same time. "What hell does that even mean?" 

"Time doesn't exist here," someone said as he entered the lobby. "Not in the usual fashion."

"Who are you?" Castle asked. 

"Oh, this is Sage," Slade replied. "Sage, this is - hold on, where is everybody?"

"I'm Castle. This is Molls."

"Hello, Castle, Molls," Sage said politely.

"So, who are you?" Molls asked. 

Before he could answer, the outside door opened and Dean stepped in carrying a body over his shoulder. Sam waited outside, holding the door for Jeet and Vincent.

"What happened?" Molls asked, leaving the couch.

"We need to start a fire," Jeet replied. "And dry clothing would be nice." 

"Molly?" Slade asked. "What – what happened?"

Dean ignored Slade's question. "We need dry clothes and a fire. Can anyone start one in this fireplace?"

"Is that a good idea?" Castle asked.

"The chimney is fully functional," Sage replied. "The flue is always open."

"Who the hell is this guy?" Dean asked as he laid Molly's body in front of the fireplace.

"I'm Sage," he replied. "I'm... I got put here."

"You were the one who made the wish," Sam observed.

Sage nodded.

"I found him upstairs," Slade replied.

"Hold up," Dean said. He fixed the salt line and then began passing out lengths of iron chain.

"What's this for?" Castle asked as she began working on the fire.

"Vincent was possessed," Sam replied. "For a while."

"Sorry," Vincent said.

"Not your fault," Dean said. "We should've been on it. This is pure iron. Spirits can't touch it. You put it around your neck, waist, anywhere. Just keep it on you."

"You know a lot about this place," Sage commented. "It took me years to understand how the ghosts worked."

Sam turned to Sage. "You need to tell us everything."

"About what?"

"About how you got here."

Sage sighed. "I was a scared kid. I wanted to get away, and I was told I could have my wish at a price."

"I need every detail," Sam said, grabbing a notebook and pen. "You understand? Everything you can remember."

"Don't mind us," Castle said. "Me making a fire next to a dead body. Jeet digging for clothing."

Sam realized he was shivering in his waterlogged clothing. "I need dry clothes."

Dean pulled out their main duffel. "I've got some towels, definitely a coat... maybe even underwear and socks."

Sam rolled his eyes. "You pack like Mom made you."

Jeet picked up on that. She had all but decided these men weren't FBI agents in any universe, but they seemed to have a strong connection. It seemed they were brothers. 

Slade joined Sam and Sage. "I'll write while you dry," Slade said. "Go on, Sage, from the beginning."

 

The Doctor finally sealed the door of the stasis chamber. "Macro-to-micro-processing, lovely. Oh, and that's – is that a molecular – "

"Doctor!" Rose prompted.

"Sorry, how is he?" The Doctor asked, indicating Remy.

"Stable," December replied. "For now. Good news is that, once we're in the clear, I can stabilize him permanently. 

Rose asked, "The bad news?"

"There's always something, isn't there?" December said. 

"He'll never be human again," The Doctor said quietly as he considered the medical screen. 

"Not technically," December agreed. "He'll be himself. You saw, he's clearly still a person. Sentient. With his memories."

"That's not the same thing as Remy being Remy again," Gwen objected.

December shrugged. "Oh, right. Sorry. Context. Well, he'll live. Possibly a long time. So there's that."

"Gwen, why did you come upstairs?" Rose asked. "You said you followed him."

"I did."

"Why?" The Doctor asked. "It's dangerous. You should've stayed where you – "

"I can't fight ghosts!" Gwen replied harshly. "I can't figure out why images appear and disappear and seem as real as people. Or how Vince died. Or any of it! But you know what I can do?" She paused and lowered her voice. "I can help a wounded animal. And as far as danger goes... it's everywhere. So why not?"

The Doctor made a facial expression that Rose had long ago decided roughly translated to "that's-a-fair-point." 

"Can you tell what happened to him?" Rose asked December. 

"Not to be insensitive," December began. "But we need to get into the command center of my ship. JD, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all," The Doctor said. He stepped up to the stasis chamber and brought up the results. "Nasty. He was exposed to something over a long period of time. Something that was able to change his DNA. See there and there?"

Gwen and Rose squinted to see that The Doctor was pointing out areas highlighted in blue. Around the elbows, wrists, ankles, knees, and even on the spine.

"That's inflammation. An incredible autoimmune response," The Doctor continued. "When he was exposed, his DNA changed, and his body started to attack itself."

"So, what, a kind of arthritis?" Rose asked. 

"It is definitely painful for him to walk and move around," The Doctor replied. "But at some point, the new DNA was accepted. Otherwise he'd be dead."

"Look at that," Rose said, pointing out areas marked in an odd color code system. "I don't know what the colors mean, but if I had to guess, I'd think he had lupus."

"Worse than lupus, he must've been in perpetual agony," The Doctor observed. "Not to mention the physical changes."

"How did he survive without help?" Gwen asked.

"He had help, if you can call it that. See there? Someone did surgery on him, added pins to the hip joints, like he broke his pelvis," The Doctor observed. "Someone kept him alive. Had to have done. Didn't do him any favors but kept him. Remy was someone's experiment."

"Or someone's entertainment," Rose added bitterly.

"Gotcha!" December exclaimed as she finally broke the lockdown. "You can use your coms now, and... " The door opened. "Welcome aboard!"

December nipped in with The Doctor following.

Rose paged the others. "Just checking in. JD and I are fine. We're working on a way out. Gwen is with us."

Rose turned to the newly opened door and her heart jumped at what she saw. Gwen seemed hesitant to follow. "It's okay," Rose said. "I've traveled in one of these before. A lot."

"Then what's that look on your face?" She meant the look of absolute shock on Rose's face.

"I never thought I'd see one again."

Gwen followed Rose tentatively. December and The Doctor were already at work. The ship was radically different from The Doctor's, but it had the same basic control configuration.

"This is a TARDIS," Rose said to Gwen. 

"She's a beaut," The Doctor said to December. "Newer model than my old Sexy, but still one of the classics."

"That's why I picked her," December said. "Well, if you ask her, she picked me."

Gwen asked, "Is that a metaphor?"

"The TARDIS is living," Rose replied. "It's got mechanical bits and all that, but the core is a living entity."

"Yesterday, I'd've said you were all off your rockers," Gwen replied. "But this ship... it couldn't fit inside the school. I mean, the school is too small. And we'd've seen a ship."

"Bigger on the inside," The Doctor said happily. "Oh, she's fantastic."

"Okay, here we are," December said. "The ship's reports."

The Doctor joined her. 

"Blimey," he said under his breath. "Your TARDIS made changes to the school building. Why?"

December shook her head. "Overlapping universes. She would've integrated herself into the physical element of the universe to maintain structural integrity."

"Stabilize her energy flow," The Doctor cottoned on. "Oh, that's clever. She gets her power from the universe, and it's gotta be the right one. She does that automatically?"

"Yes, she does," December replied with a smile. "She gets it from me. Well, some of it."

"Your ship can learn from you?" Gwen asked. "It's not just alive, it's conscious? Thinking?"

"Why wouldn't it do?" December asked.

"A horse is alive and can be ridden. Doesn't mean that it thinks," Gwen said.

"Why shouldn't a horse think?" The Doctor asked. 

"It's not sentient."

Rose and The Doctor traded glances. "How do you know that?" The Doctor asked. 

Rose asked, "Have you ever asked one?"

"You're both serious?" Gwen asked.

"They're adorable," December replied. "But we do need some focus. Because this... I don't know what this means."

"That's just the modifications your TARDIS was making to the school," The Doctor replied.

"She wrote, 'I needed to help them because they are stuck.' What does that mean?"

"Your TARDIS writes to you?" The Doctor asked.

"Never mind that! 'Stuck,'" Rose repeated.

"That's what they said. The ghosts. They said they got stuck here," Gwen added.

"She's been building for a long, long time," December said. "And that's not all."

"Is that what I think it is?" The Doctor asked, adjusting his glasses.

"Yep. Makes sense, overlapping universes and all. But it means we've been here for centuries."

"What?" Gwen asked.

"She's been building all that time," December continued.

"What do you mean, building?" Gwen asked. "What for?"

 

Molls managed to procure dry clothing for everyone, though no one seemed happy about donning someone else's underwear.

"They're clean and dry," Molls said. "At least be happy about that."

"Wearing a dead man's clothes," Dean said as he threw on Irwin's spare shirt and pants. "Awesome."

"Well, he doesn't need them," Sam added. He had to do with a too-short shirt from Vincent and overlarge pants that Molls found, at least until his suit dried. 

Castle maintained the fire. Jeet kept checking on Molly till she was warm again, but she was gone. Jeet covered her with a medical sheet.

The rest of them kept gathered around the larger table, away from the bodies.

Meanwhile, Slade and Sage made a list of everything Sage could remember about his wish.

"I get it, fleeting phantoms, great," Sam said. "But did they give you a deadline? You know, 'until the moon bleeds' or something?"

Sage shook his head. "No. I don't know. You have to understand, I was seven or eight. The promise of getting away from my father... I wasn't about to ask any questions."

"Well, we got in," Sam said, "which means we did something that broke that magic somehow."

"Both of us?" Slade asked. 

"What?" Dean asked.

Slade stumbled over his tongue, "I mean, you are from a different place. Right? So your universe or whatever and ours... they'd've both had to break in. Or is that not... what am I even saying?"

"No, you're right," Sam said. "Because the 'fleeting phantoms' were just normal people – "

"No, they'd disappear," Sage objected. "No one ever stayed more than a few hours."

"You could only see them then," Sam said. "And they could only see you then. Overlapping windows. That's what Dawn was talking about. She tried to find you again, but after that first time, all she ever saw were echoes. Brief images. But she was real. And so were you. You just didn't coincide."

"Nerd," Dean commented.

"I'm sorry, I can't remember anything like that, about an ending to the wish," Sage said.

"Okay, then," Sam started. "We know that the Dawn from your universe, Slade, she and the others came here first. Along with the others from our universe. So what did we do that was the same as them?"

Slade considered his words. "Apart from timing? Nothing."

"Well," Dean suggested, "they came here for a documentary, right? And you guys came here to find them."

"It's not like we're the first," Castle spoke up. "Plenty of stuff has been done on the Trine."

"Maybe it's you," Sam said to Sage. "She kept looking for you. Maybe her desire to find you was enough."

"This isn't an afterschool special," Dean replied.

The com paged. Rose spoke, "Just checking in. JD and I are fine. We're working on a way out. Gwen is with us." 

"Rose found Gwen," Dean commented.

"Who's that?" Sage asked.

"Rose," Sam said through the com, "Be careful."

"Okay, so Dawn's connection to Sage," Dean repeated. "But the other Dawn – the one who called us – she didn't have any connection with him at all."

"Who is Dawn?" Sage asked.

"She met you went she was little," Molls replied. "Twenty years ago."

Sage laughed. "Sorry, but, 'twenty years' means nothing to me. I grew to adulthood and stopped. As far as I can tell, I've been here for centuries."

"Sounds more like a Trickster than a fairy," Dean said to Sam.

"A what?" Sage asked, jolting as if the word 'Trickster' or 'fairy' hurt him physically.

"Tricksters. Demigods that play pranks. But usually it's about just deserts," Sam said. "Locking a kid away for hundreds of years for fear of his father doesn't seem like a Trickster move."

"It's a dick move," Dean added.

"I second that," Castle said. 

It wasn't until Sage exhaled mist that anyone noticed the change in temperature.

"Crap – " Sam said, getting to his feet.

But he was too late. Irwin's mobilized remains tumbled toward the fire and crashed, hard, into a stout coffee table. In one fluid movement, he ripped off one of the legs and shoved it in the fire till it burned.

Sam, Dean, and Jeet grabbed whatever they could. Sam had the shotgun, but Dean didn't want to waste rounds, so he grabbed a chain, as did Jeet. By the time they charged Irwin, though, he already had a burning table leg, which he thrust deep into the far wall of the lobby. Smoke billowed out.

Bang! Sam hit Irwin with salt, and the image of a young man with very blue eyes flickered as he turned to face his assailants. A force crashed into them – telekinesis – throwing Jeet into Dean and Sam into one of the chairs.

Bang! Bang! Sam landed two shots right to the chest, giving Jeet enough time to wrap the iron chain around his waist. Shrieking with pain, the ghost flew out of Irwin. The spirit hovered above them, a sheer green hue outlining his features.

"Remy?" Molls said. "Is that you?"

Remy's eyes didn't show anger, just a deep, defeated sadness. He disappeared.

"That doesn't make sense," Dean said. "Ghosts with that kind of mojo have to be pissed off."

"Bobby wasn't," Sam pointed out.

"Bobby wasn't possessing anyone," Dean replied. 

"The wall is on fire!" Jeet shouted. "Come on, we need something to smother it."

Molls collected the wet clothing to cover the wall. Jeet joined her, and in a few minutes, the fire died out completely.

"It's weird, though," Molls said quietly. "I mean, he could've attacked us. Instead, he picks a stretch of wall no one is near and lights it on fire."

"That's what's weird here?" Sage asked.

"Not as weird as watching your own corpse prune," Vincent said, finally getting up. "Or being possessed by, well, yourself."

"Vince wasn't you," Molls replied soberly. "He's from a different place."

"You saw your own corpse?" Slade asked.

"Future time echo, we think," Dean hedged. "We don't know. I'll repeat that, just so we're completely clear: we don't know what those things were."

"My decapitated body was one of the sightings," Jeet chipped in bitterly. "Let's hope that's not the future."

"Forget that," Dean said. "I think it's pretty clear we can't wait till morning. We need to burn these bodies now."

"Then I guess we need to make a pyre," Jeet said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Welcome to the Machine** (Pink Floyd)  
>  What did you dream?   
> It's alright we told you what to dream.  
> You dreamed of a big star,   
> He played a mean guitar,  
> He always ate in the Steak Bar.   
> He loved to drive in his Jaguar.  
> So welcome to the machine.


	10. Please Mister Gravedigger

December scanned through the reports as fast as she could, but the sheer volume bogged her down.

"Your TARDIS has been rounding up bodies and body parts," The Doctor said, considering one of the other screens. "Why? What for?"

"What do you mean, rounding up?" December asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Well, gathering the bodies. Storing them somewhere, right? That's what all this data is about. But where? Are these other numbers some kind of coordinate system?"

"What else would it be?"

"No idea, but this? This doesn't make sense."

 

Slade considered the newly broken table. He recognized its limbs. They reminded him of that ornate leg he witnessed himself carving. 

"This will burn," he said, breaking the rest of the table apart. He stowed one of the legs in his coat. It couldn't hurt to have it just in case.

Vincent had taken over for Molls, pulling the damp clothes away from the wall to ensure that the fire was gone. "Looks like you put it out before it burned to the other side," he said, pulling off the last piece.

Jeet's stomach twisted violently. "Uh, Dean, Sam?"

"We've got to finish this pyre," Dean dismissed as he carried out a chunk of the table.

"You need to see this," Jeet said.

Sam joined her and Vincent. "What?" Sam asked. "After everything – "

He stopped short. The fire had burned through the outer part of the wall and burned off the insulation, which was some kind of odd, porous solid. A slightly charred bone poked out of it.

"Is that...?" Jeet asked.

Sam grabbed pieces of the wall and pulled back. It gave with surprising ease, like the insulation was designed for flexibility. 

"I'd say fibula, tibia, and femur," Sam observed. "Human." He started to shift more of the insulation to the side and found more bone. "Looks like they have been articulated against each other horizontally."

"Does that mean something?" Vincent asked, petrified.

"I think," Sam said. "This wall could move. Bend at the, uh, knee joints."

 

December pulled up a map of the area. "This TARDIS isn't just for travel. She can build safe habitats for a given environment. 'Safe' meaning that she minimizes the risks of introducing foreign chemicals by using as many found materials as possible wherever she lands."

Gwen asked, "Found materials?"

"Okay, don't get upset," December replied. "But it looks like my ship saw these people were stuck, so she... built additions around herself out of their bodies so that, when I woke up, we could get them out of here. Like packing up before you go on holiday."

Even The Doctor couldn't hide his surprise. 

"Where does your ship get off grabbing people?" Rose asked.

December objected, "My ship sensed that these people were trapped – somehow because of their remains. She didn't say how, and I'd like to know because, obviously, they were already dead when she found them, but this was the only way she could save them."

"By building their remains into, what?" Rose asked. "Furniture? Clothing? What?"

"Don't be silly, she'd never do that. She likely took their ossified remains and coated them with an insulating agent to make doors and walls."

"That's why the walls look warped?" Gwen asked as calmly as she could. "Because hundreds of dead people are buried in there?"

December nodded. 

"No," The Doctor said, looking at the numbers again. "Your ship didn't just bury people in the walls."

"Do the specifics really matter?" December asked.

"Yes!" Gwen shouted.

"Your ship constructed the walls and doors out of the bodies as if they were parts," The Doctor said. "According to this map, these walls, everything she built can move, or maybe more correctly, can flex."

"How do you mean, move?" Rose asked. "How can a wall move?"

"The bones are articulated together in pairs, like joints," December replied. "That's how the doors here can swing open and shut even though we didn't have any hinges."

December turned to them properly. The Doctor seemed a little put out by the ship's dismemberment of the bodies, but Rose and Gwen looked downright horrified.

December shook her head. "You three are all wearing clothes made from cotton and leather. At least one of you is wearing wool."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gwen asked, but both The Doctor and Rose seemed placated. 

"Cotton is processed from plants. Wool from sheep, and leather from cows."

"That's not the same!" Gwen replied.

"Isn't it? What was once a living and unique entity is now part of your wardrobe. But before that happened, it had to be processed so you could wear it," December said calmly. "You walk around wearing bits of other living organisms, but this place shocks you?"

"That's not the same," Gwen said. "For one thing, I need clothing to survive."

"We could argue about this, but it wasn't my call. And it's already done. What we should be figuring out is why my ship thought she could help people by using their remains to make walls. How are dead people stuck? Being dead is like the ultimate unsticking thing."

"That sentence started out really well," Rose said. 

"Got away from me," December replied. "So, dead people stuck. Carting off the remains. Anyone?"

"The FBI agents downstairs insisted that the only way to free a ghost is to burn their remains," Gwen said. 

"FBI agents dealing with ghosts?" December asked.

"Not time phantoms," The Doctor said. "They were talking about entities, sentient entities, attached to this world after death."

"A trapped soul," December confirmed. "What, you've never seen one?"

"Of course not," The Doctor objected. "They don't exist. Not really."

"Maybe in your universe," December replied, still working at her consoles. "But in my universe, well, it does happen."

The Doctor looked completely shocked. "What does that mean, it happens? How?"

"Well, it's like she said," Rose replied. "In our universe, it doesn't happen. Maybe their parallel world erupted around the nature of the soul."

Gwen laughed. 

"What?" Rose asked.

"Sorry, just... I'm inside of a ship that's too big to actually be inside of a building where the walls are made of bone and the halls are haunted by trapped human souls."

"And time echoes," The Doctor said.

"We've got time echoes, too," December replied. "It's not like we've got soul drama and no quantum mechanics."

"What's a soul made of?" Rose asked. "I mean, if you can see it and it does things, then it's gotta be made out of something."

"Energy. Souls are energy," she replied.

"Oh, you," Rose said. "That's what this guy says when I asked him what time is made out of." She pointed to The Doctor. 

December smiled at him. "That's a good man."

 

Dean paged the com. "Rose? JD? Gwen? We, uh, found something."

"What?" Gwen replied over the com.

"The walls. They've got human bone inside them," Dean said.

"Yeah, we know," The Doctor said. 

"How did you know?" Dean asked.

"How did you?" Rose shot back.

"Possessed body set fire to the wall," he replied. "Your turn."

"From my logs," December replied.

"Gwen? Is that you?" Dean asked.

"No, that's December," The Doctor replied. "She got trapped here, too. I stumbled into her. Anyway, she's got technology that can help us. We'll get back to you."

"Whatever you're working on, it better include burning this place to ash," Dean replied over the com. "Because that's what I'm going to do."

Dean waited for a reply, but none came. He watched as Molls and Jeet carried Molly's body back inside, followed immediately by Sam and Slade carrying Irwin. Dean got to his feet and helped the others as they built a pyre inside, using the furniture as a base.

Sage stood apart from them. 

"You should be helping," Castle said with venom. "After all, this is all your fault."

"I'm... I didn't know," Sage replied sadly. 

"We could use your help with the pyre," Jeet said. 

Sage nodded and joined them.

 

Rose pulled The Doctor away from the console for a few minutes. "Doctor," she whispered. "How is there another Time Lord?" 

"All the Time Lords in our universe are dead," he said. "But maybe in the parallel where souls are not just theory but can manifest as factual ghosts, they survived."

"Are you going back with her?" Rose asked. 

The Doctor's face contorted.

"What, you didn't even consider it?" Rose asked.

"No," he replied, the confused look on his face breaking her heart. "I hadn't."

"But your people are still alive," Rose said. "Doesn't that make you want to go?"

"Maybe the Time Lords are dead here," he replied, taking her hands. "But my people? My family? They're alive. I'm not just gonna swan off on them because some fancy parallel is out there. Gingerbread house."

"Even if I'd go with you?" she asked.

"You can't do," The Doctor replied fondly, touching her cheek. "You've got your mom and dad and a little brother. And of course, there's protecting the earth." 

"Sorry to break this up," December said loudly. "But I need a hand."

"Right, sorry," The Doctor replied awkwardly. "We were just talking about how the Time Lords survived in your universe. How did they survive?" 

"You make it sound like dying out was our destiny." 

"Well," The Doctor said quietly. "Not entirely."

"There was a prophecy," she answered. "It said that if we continued to be apart from other species, we would become a formidable race that policed the entire universe. And eventually, the forces raised against us would be so powerful that the only way to stop them would be to destroy ourselves."

"That's it?" The Doctor asked. "The Time Lords changed, completely, all because of a prophecy?"

"You make it sound absurd," December replied. 

"Certainly wouldn't have happened in my world," The Doctor said sadly. He changed the subject, "Now, you said you needed help?"

 

Castle turned to Molls, who had just dropped onto the couch. "Low."

"What?" Molls asked.

"You asked before, about our chances getting out of here. I just figured I should actually reply."

"We've been in worse," Dean spoke up. 

"No you haven't," Castle spat. 

"We have," Sam said simply.

Molls asked, "Like what? What could be worse than here?"

"Hell," Dean replied. 

"Of course," Vincent said. "Why wouldn't two FBI agents go to hell?"

"We got in. That means we can get out," Sam said. 

"Maybe that would easier to believe if we didn't just have to build a pyre to burn the remains of our friends," Vincent said solemnly. "As far as I can tell, this is hell."

 

"Oh, small, tiny problem," December said. 

"What kind of problem?" The Doctor said, donning his glasses.

"You said overlapping universes," December said.

"Cracks between the universes," Rose said. "Splinters."

"Ours and yours," The Doctor said. 

"I factored in your universe identification stream from your detector, and... well, take a look," she said, offering the monitor. 

"A third universe?" Rose said before The Doctor had a chance. 

"I like her," she said to The Doctor. Then she added, "There's a _lot_ of a third universe. 

"Well, me and JD are from a separate universe originally," Rose said. "So maybe we're the third universe on here."

"No such luck I'm afraid," The Doctor said. "If it was just us, then the third universe would just be a tiny blip on this screen."

"Equal thirds, nearly," December said. 

"So what?" Gwen asked. "If two universes can overlap, why not three? That is what you're saying right? Three overlapping universes."

"Oh, no," The Doctor said. 

"Overlapping universes open into their counterparts. Maybe at random or with spikes of energy that are very dangerous, but they open up," December stated. 

Rose asked, "You mean this map isn't just focused on the overlap?"

"This map should show us everything, at least in my universe," December replied. 

Silence greeted these words. Finally Gwen asked, "So, you're saying we're locked in?"

"So much worse than that," The Doctor replied. "We're in a bounded pocket universe. Essentially, we're nowhere."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Please Mister Gravedigger** (David Bowie)  
>  There's a little churchyard just along the way  
> And in this little yard, there's a little old man  
> With a little shovel in his little bitty hand  
> He seems to spend all his days puffing fags and digging graves  
> Please Mr. Gravedigger, don't feel ashamed


	11. Borrowed Time

December and The Doctor kept at the logs, furiously searching the data and combing for answers.

"Hang on," Rose said. "You've got a message."

"From where?" December asked. 

"Dunno, how do you switch this on?" Rose asked as she randomly pressed three buttons.

"By pressing those," December said. 

"She's done this before," The Doctor explained.

They gathered around the smaller monitor as the message opened. First the picture was just white noise; then the grain became colored but the image remained unclear. 

"Yes, it's working," a woman's voice said. "Doctor, it's _working_."

"Who is that?" Rose asked.

"I've heard that voice before," The Doctor said. 

"Geronimo!" a man's voice came over the message. "Right-o, so, Doctor, don't know if you can hear us or not, but I got your message – and might I say, very cool memory transference how _did_ you do it? – and I just thought I'd impart a simple 'hello'!"

The picture finally cleared, revealing The Doctor and River Song on their TARDIS.

"River Song," The Doctor said. 

"Oi, is that you?" Rose asked. "You regenerated?"

"Am I wearing a bow tie?" The Doctor asked. 

"Bow ties are cool," The Doctor said, pulling on his outrageously blue tie. "And this is River. You've met. Now, on to business. I got your message and came running to Florida, the fourth century, dunno why there, BUT! When we got here, small problem – "

River interrupted. "He didn't bother to check if we were being followed."

"Well, what kind of – Cyberman ships can't traverse the vortex. It's not like every day I've got people trying so hard to catch up that they'll wing it through all of time to do it."

"I'm not like that, am I?" The Doctor asked Rose. 

"Oh, no," Rose said, only half truthfully.

"Now, that's the bad news. Now for the worse news. Like we said. Cyberman ships, through the vortex, over the earth in the fourth century. Luckily they were pulled apart and killed in the vortex, but the ships were intact enough to fall into formation, which would normally be very cool to watch, except the gravitational – "

"The ships fell to Earth," River cut him off. "Doctor, we don't have a long message to leave," she reminded him. "When they hit, they burned the land, and – "

"It disappeared!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Didn't blow up, didn't burn, no! It disappeared for about... oh, some number of seconds. More than a millisecond, less than an hour. Something along those lines. Very difficult to gauge when you don't check the time. Anyway, it reappeared with several layers of earth stripped away. Which was very cool, except for the bit about the catastrophic number of deaths. That bit was rather unfortunate."

"The people here said that the spirits condemned the war and so destroyed the soldiers of every side," River added.

"Fire rained down over the earth," Gwen whispered. "That's what we saw in the lobby."

"So, not sure if that's what you intended with your message or if that one's on us. But I know you're in there, Doctor, and the lovely Rose Tyler – hello – and you needed to know this. We can't get in."

"If you don't know already, you're sealed inside a pocket universe. Like nothing I've ever seen," River said. "It's like time has sealed the areas around you."

"She means, what? Like it's been cauterized?" Rose asked.

"Cauterized," The Doctor echoed thoughtfully. 

"So, what are we to do, not being able to get in?" The Doctor's message continued. "Why, we've dug up everything we could and triple-encoded the message so you'll have every facet, every figure, every reading possible. For our location, anyway. Subfrequency C."

"He means channel 5," River said. 

"Take care, Handy! And Rose. Give my love to your parents," he added. "See? That's how you end a message," he said to River. 

She smiled and the picture went out.

"Sorry," Gwen spoke up. "But who was that?"

"Me," The Doctor replied. "Well, the old me. New old me."

"Handy?" Rose said to him. "I like that."

"Don't call me that."

"Oh this is brilliant!" December said as she brought up the data from channel 5. "This is fantastic!"

"Oh yes!" The Doctor exclaimed as he scanned the data stream. "Now we can delineate and modulate – "

"Meaning you can get us home?" Rose interrupted.

"Oh, just you watch!" December replied.

 

"The sun will be up in a hour or two. We need to burn this entire building to the ground," Dean said.

"Only way to lay the spirits to rest," Sam said. 

"Problem: We don't have enough accelerant," Dean said. 

Vincent spoke up, "Did you ask the others?"

Sam paged the com, "Rose? JD?"

"Sam?" Rose replied. 

"Cliff Notes: We need to burn this place to the ground before we go," Dean cut in. "We've got barely enough to start the pyre in here, though. Let alone for this entire building. And it needs to burn all the way through. Completely."

"Well, then, my gun-happy Americans," The Doctor said, "I've good news. We've got a plan, and fire is involved."

Vincent and Molls traded loaded glances. 

"Oh, and good news," Gwen added. "Remy is alive."

"Remy?" Molls asked. "Do you know which one?"

"No, sorry," Gwen said.

"Why not?" Dean asked. "If he's alive, can't he tell you?"

"He's sort of... different," Rose replied. "He was transformed into a kind of... dog-human hybrid."

"What?" Dean asked.

"He was exposed to something that modified his genetic makeup and physical appearance," The Doctor replied.

"Like a wacko science experiment?" Dean asked.

"No, like a long, slow, torturous experience that has changed him forever," The Doctor said. "Let's find you some more accelerant."

Sam turned to Dean, "That's not right."

"Nothing is right here," Vincent said. 

"What did Remy do for a living?" Sam asked Molls and Vincent. 

"He and his brother ran an Outdoor Sports store," Vincent replied. 

"He work with animals ever?" Sam asked. "Maybe training dogs or something?"

"Sure," Molls replied. "Mostly for hunting partners. Is that important?"

"Yeah, it is," Sam said quietly. "Because it doesn't fit."

"Fit?" Slade prompted.

"He means that weirdo ghost and spirit activity, no matter how strange, all kind of go together," Dean said. "But mutant dog man does not."

"Does that mean something?" Sage asked. 

"Generally that kind of thing is the product of a curse or a Trickster," Sam said. "And if Remy trained dogs, I'd lay my bet on Trickster."

"You mean, like what locked me in here?" Sage inquired, fear causing his voice to crack.

"Which is bad," Dean said. "Because it means whatever it was is still around and kicking."

"You bring any stakes with you?" Sam asked Dean.

"Just two," Dean replied. 

"Stakes?" Slade asked. "Like for vampires?"

Dean shook his head. "You don't stake a vampire, you decapitate them. You drive a stake through a Trickster's midsection."

"I don't understand," Sage said, his voice trembling. "You mean there's something worse in here than the flickering and the cold and the ghosts?"

Dean sized Sage up. "Tricksters are a lot more powerful than ghosts. On top of that, they're real douchebags. So yeah, worse."

Sam fumbled for the wooden stakes in Dean's duffel. He paged the com, "Hurry it up!"

 

"That's a plan!" The Doctor boomed. "Wait, hang on, no it isn't."

"Reverse by following the quantum link. Send everything back!" December asserted. "That is very much a plan."

"Well, yeah, but not one that would work."

"You said you grew out of that other Doctor?" December asked.

"Yes, well, sort of..." 

"Quantum-link!"

"That's... brilliant!" The Doctor said. "Hang on. That doesn't include your universe."

"Never mind my universe. Quantum particle entanglement and the power of my ship will send all the matter back to the right universes," December said. "Though, we'll need some more energy – "

"That's not the big problem, though, is it?" Rose said. "That amount of energy, to push something back into a universe through the seals of this one and the void... That'd tear organic matter apart."

"Oh, isn't she brilliant?" The Doctor said. 

"That and you two need to get back to your home, I can't just pop you back into your original universe. You just need something to protect you."

"Like a life pod?" Rose asked.

"But, if we do that," The Doctor said. "Will that work?"

"I said my ship and I had been here for centuries. The other one - she's young, but old enough to fly on her own. She's cultivated out of the ground from a different universe, so if she comes with me, she'll die," December said.

"Doctor, what is she talking about?" Rose asked.

"Hurry it up!" Sam paged. 

"We're working on it!" Rose paged back. 

"What's going on?" Gwen asked.

"My ship integrates into its environment. There's a lot of matter from my original universe, but not a lot of land. So my ship grafted onto the other universe and grew – "

"Another TARDIS?" Rose asked. "Your ship just... grew another TARDIS?"

"Well, over about nine hundred years," The Doctor said. "Just a baby, actually."

"Let me make something clear," December said. "That ship is the child of this fine ship here. And that makes her family. I might not be able to travel through parallel universes normally, but I will know if she complains about your deportment."

"That was the weirdest threat I have ever heard," Gwen said to Rose.

"Don't worry," The Doctor said. "You've my word that she will be safe."

"Touching," Gwen said. "But I thought we were getting out of here?"

"Right, well, the people on the com keep saying stuff about lighting things on fire," December said. "Which can work. We extract the two ships from the building, and the ignition of the building can help fuel our escape."

"What do you need?" Gwen asked.

"I need a pair of hands here," December replied. "To get things moving. And there is an energy that's constantly locking us in. It's still active. I need more data on that."

"Yes, it's continuously cauterizing the pocket," The Doctor said, recalling the term Rose used. "You have a map for me, December? Rose can give you a hand here – "

"No," Gwen interrupted. "I'll do it."

"Sorry?" 

Gwen looked at December. She asked, "Would it be all right if I came with you?"

"You'd be stranded in a parallel universe," December replied. 

"Remy will need someone to look after him," Gwen said. "Dunno if you travel with people or not."

"Go on," The Doctor said. "Look at her!"

"Oh I don't mind at all," December said placidly. "But she'd be in a parallel universe for the rest of her life. No going home."

"There's no going home from here anyway," Gwen said. "Not after this."

"Right, then," The Doctor said. "Point us in the direction of the other ship."

"Your detector will beep when you get near it," she said. "The chameleon circuit will try to trip you up. Don't let it. Open the door and it'll be fine. You need to get the others into the TARDIS before we light _anything_ on fire."

Rose said, "There's something else. On the scanner. Moving."

"Let me see... Huh. Whatever those are, they're not alive," The Doctor said. "But they certainly are animated."

"I'm assuming that means machines," Gwen said.

"Okay, here's the plan. We coat the building with some kind of accelerant, get everyone into the right ship, and light things on fire before we find out what's moving out there!" Rose said. "All agreed?"

All four nodded.

Rose paged the com. "Dean? Sam? You said something about a wish or something? Turns out there is some kind of energy binding this place – cauterizing it – continuously."

"Yeah, we got some details on that," Dean said. 

"We're heading your way," Rose paged back

Rose took The Doctor's hand. "It's been a while since we've done this," she said.

"Oh yes!"

 

They raced down the hall and down the stairs. 

"Don't you understand?" The Doctor said. "Everyone here is waiting for the sun to come up."

"Yeah, we're all ready to leave at sunrise," Rose replied.

"Except the sun will never rise on this place," The Doctor said. "There won't be a sunrise."

"Because there's no sun here!" Rose exclaimed. "Oh, that's... oh!"

"But we've got it now!" The Doctor said, turning to following the detector's beeping.

"Aha!" Rose said as they stopped at a door. She pushed it in and saw that the tripod was standing in the room. "We've been here before."

"Oh that's a crazy upgrade for the chameleon circuit," The Doctor said. "But I am prepared, oh yes!"

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and held it against the far wall. Sure enough, the wall rippled into a door. 

"Listen, Sam and Dean," Rose said. "And Jeet."

"We're here," Jeet said. 

"Everyone from the other universe – the one in twenty-twelve – needs to go upstairs to the room with the giraffe on the door," Rose said over the com. "And everyone from our universe, the one in twenty-fourteen, needs to come down the hall to the room with... the... I'll draw a kangaroo on the door."

"So, two thousand twelve goes to the giraffe, and two thousand fourteen goes to the kangaroo," Sam summarized. "Great. But don't forget about the bodies."

"And the other thing," Rose said.

Dean asked, "What other thing?"

"Something's coming," Rose said. "We detected movement. A lot of movement. And whatever's moving out there isn't alive." 

"Do you have accelerant we can use?" Sam asked.

"Oh, do we ever!" The Doctor replied, finally getting the door opened. 

"Apparently," Rose said over the com.

They ducked into the room. It was clearly a different ship from the one upstairs. It was lovely.

"Okay, so things to make fire," The Doctor said. "We need packs with sprays filled with a good old-fashioned incendiary fluid that won't blow up with static electricity."

"Is that hard to find?"

"Nope, there should be enough right in here," The Doctor said, lifting up a random piece of the floor. "Oh, yes! This is _brilliant_!"

Rose paged again. "Right boys, we've got incendiary fluid. We're gonna pack it, so get ready, 'cause here we come."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Borrowed Time** (Colloquialism)  
>        n. period of uncertainty wherein certain outcomes are postponed or avoided but presumed to be inevitable in nature
> 
>  **Borrowed Time** (Styx)  
>  I'm so confused by the things I read, I need the truth  
> But the truth is, I don't know who to believe  
> The left say yes, and the right says no  
> I'm in between and the more I learn  
> Well, the less that I know  
> I got to make a show  
> Livin' high, living fine  
> Livin' high on borrowed time


	12. Cosmological Constant

Dean and Sam handed out iron to everyone: bars, chains, anything. Molls, Vincent, and Castle checked their packs and discarded anything they didn't need. Slade and Sage kept watch at both doors.

"We don't have any more salt," Sam said apologetically. "But ghosts can't handle iron, either."

Dean held out a chain to Castle.

"Sorry," she said, "but Jeet was right about my leg. I shouldn't have moved so much on it. I don't think I'll be able to handle more than my bag and this." She held up a large branch she'd taken as a staff.

"You need something," Sam insisted.

"I'm going with you two, aren't I?" she said. "I'll just keep on you like white on rice."

Jeet had rigged up some camp stove equipment into a makeshift spray bottle. Sam doused the pyre they built in the lobby with the last of their accelerant. 

"This room still needs to be coated all along the walls," Sam said to Jeet. "How much of that do you have?"

"Might be able to cover two walls. Start along the pyre so it'll catch from there," Jeet said.

"That won't be enough to torch the building," Dean said. "We need to make sure everyone's bones are burned."

"I don't have anything else," Jeet said. "I didn't think I'd need to burn down a building."

"Fair point," Sam commented.

"Can't we just rig up an electrical fire?" Vincent suggested.

"That might not work," Sage said. "Time doesn't work right here, and somehow the electricity always works. I don't think you could start a fire with it."

"We need something foolproof. People are counting on it," Sam insisted.

As if to answer his plea, Rose's voice came over the com. "Right boys, we've got fire. Get ready, 'cause here we come." 

"Let me get those two walls," Jeet said.

"But the fire," Sage pointed out. "Won't the fire – "

"No, I smothered it out," Molls said. "It won't burn till we ignite something."

"Can I help?" Sage offered. "I want to help."

"You can carry Castle's bag," Dean said. "And you'll need something to shoot with – my shotgun, I guess. You're job is to make sure she gets upstairs, even if Sammy and I get held back or something."

"Upstairs?" Sage asked.

"You're from our universe," Sam said simply. "Rose just told us that they've got a plan. All people from our universe go upstairs to the door with the giraffe on it. So that's your job."

"I'll take it gladly," he said. "I will." He turned to Castle, who had propped herself up on her staff. She was leaning over it heavily, as if she were in pain.

"Castle?" Sage said to her. "I'm going to help you upstairs. Which is your bag?" 

She lifted her head slowly to meet his eyes. "You cannot leave," she said. 

"What do you mean?" Sage asked. "They just said we could."

"You will not leave," Castle repeated. "You will _not_ leave."

"Castle, it's okay," Slade spoke up, ready to go to her. "We're getting out of here. We can leave."

She didn't turn to look at Slade or anyone else. Her eyes burrowed into Sage's, and he reeled back in confusion as she repeated, "You cannot leave!"

Before Sam or Dean had time to respond, a roaring sound plummeted towards them, and all the windows burst into the lobby, throwing glass and chaos into the mix. The floor cracked and the wind seared into the room, billowing like an ocean storm.

"What the hell is that?" Molls yelled, backing into Vincent in the process.

Dean and Sam followed her line of sight. Outside the window, figures were approaching. "Rose, she said something was coming," Sam pointed out. "Something not alive, but moving."

"What the hell?" Dean asked. "You think... were there bodies out there?" 

"Dean, this place is like one giant tomb," Sam replied. "Definitely could be bodies out there."

Dean didn't want to consider the possibility that hundreds of ghosts could be possessing hundreds of bodies. "Okay, we need those chains, Sam. And the iron bars – "

Jeet raced over to the windows to gather the iron chains and bars there. As soon as she did, she chanced a glance out into the howling storm. 

"Oh my God," she said in horror.

Castle's eyes remained fixed on Sage, as if her stare alone could keep him prisoner. It occurred to Slade that she didn't seem to consider anyone else in the room. Maybe she meant that _Sage_ couldn't leave. His eyes met Dean's, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Jeet, the sofa!" Dean yelled as he grabbed the iron from across the room. "Grab any iron nearby and get to the sofa."

Slade scooped up as much salt as he could and stumbled to Castle, doing his best against the hail, rain, wind, and shaking earth. He wrapped one arm around her waist and shoved his other hand over her mouth, filling it with salt. 

She choked on it and her body trembled. Something inside of her screamed as it blew out of her, echoing, "You cannot leave!" one last time. The wind dropped out and the hail and rain ceased entirely, leaving everyone wet and covered with glass.

Vincent and Molls made it over to Slade and Castle and pulled them both down behind the couch. Jeet joined them next, followed by Sam and Dean. 

"Slade, stand up," Dean said. "Can you stand?"

"Yes, of course," he replied. 

Dean handed him an iron bar. Molls and Vincent shot up along side him, so Sam gave them both iron chains. 

"Listen," Sam said. "We circle up, like we're musk ox."

"We're like what?" Molls asked.

"He means like we're Spartans," Dean replied, shaking his head. "Damn Animal Planet."

"We keep the circle tight and anything coming at us, we hit it with iron. As soon as the bodies drop, we grab what we can and get the hell out of here," Sam said. "Understood?"

"Where's Sage?" Vincent asked. 

No one had bothered to check for him, but he had staggered over to the pyre and curled up beside it.

"Sage!" Sam yelled. "Get over here!"

But he didn't move. Dean started for him, but Jeet pulled him back. 

Two full skeletons burst through the broken windows. Partial skeletons followed, climbing over the broken glass. Words filled the room as the storm had done before, repeating over and over again, "You cannot leave."

Everyone circled around Castle, who was still spitting up salt.

"How many are there?" Vincent asked. 

"So far, I count ten," Sam replied. "Well, technically seven and a half, but ten separate entities."

"Great, just what we need," Dean sniped. "Nerd math precision."

"Sage!" Sam yelled. "Get your ass over here! Now!"

Most of the skeletons were cumbersome and slow, but two of them were quick and stealthy. They went straight for Sage, their bony fingers reaching out. 

"Castle, get up," Molls said. 

Still shaking, Castle got to her feet and leaned against Vincent. 

"Listen," Molls instructed. "We've got to get over to him, so we're going as a group."

"Like moving the entire huddle?" Sam asked.

"Yes!"

Without another word, the entire group moved in Sage's direction, attracting the attention of the two assailants closing in on him. 

As soon as Castle yanked Sage to his feet, Dean yelled, "Close the circle!"

The attack came in waves. As it turned out, skeletal bodies weren't very heavy. Most of them had been left to the elements, making them soft. Once hit with an iron chain or bar, the spirits were ripped away, shrieking as they were torn from the room. 

Molls and Vincent held their own well enough, but after the first ten, even more joined. The sound of sickening cracks and snaps filled the room as the skeletons piled up around them.

"We might not have to fight after a while," Vincent joked, panic-stricken. "We'll have a fort of bone to hide behind!"

"It's _not_ funny!" Jeet yelled. 

Rose raced into the room with The Doctor, both carrying packs with extended spray handles.

"What? What? _What_?" The Doctor said. He paged the com, "Gwen, can you ask December to seal off the main building? Please? Now. Please!"

Gwen replied, "She says give her a second."

"We've got skeletons attacking!" The Doctor replied. 

"Hold on," Rose said. "Look, they're not attacking us."

It was true. The assailants ignored The Doctor and Rose entirely; they went straight for the main group. A rush of soft sounds filled the room, like a toy air gun going off a hundred times. 

"Sealed the windows," Gwen replied. "She can't do that for the doors, though, all she can do is catch them. But people could break them down."

"Let's not give them enough time to figure that out," The Doctor replied. "Thank you, Gwen and December." 

The last four skeletons dropped, enclosing the group inside a circle of some forty bodies. Rose and The Doctor traded wary glances, but before they could make a move, Dean and Sam thrust through the shortest pile, clearing a path for all of them.

"You're alive," Castle said with relief to The Doctor as she and Sage staggered out.

"Not dying is my main thing," he replied. "We only have these three spray packs, but all we need is to coat the corners as much as possible. The fire will trigger our escape, and our escape will unleash a massive amount of energy that will reduce this place to ash."

"Then why do we need to coat the building?" Sage asked dimly. 

"Oi, who are you?" Rose asked.

"Sage, I was the boy who got put here because – " Sage began.

"Hello Sage, nice to meet you but we don't have time just now, because that pile there is just the tip of the iceberg. December has sealed off the windows and latched the doors – "

"Who the hell is December?" Sam asked.

"She's the one who's going to save your lives," Rose replied. "She has a capsule that can travel from here to your universe. Gwen is working with her upstairs right now so you can go home."

"Introductions later," The Doctor insisted.

"What happened to hiking out at sunrise?" Vincent asked.

"That was before we knew this place is sealed off," Rose explained. 

"Before, you said cauterized," Sam said tentatively. "Dean, those bodies we found when we first came into the Trine – "

"Were all burned," Dean completed. "There were signs of hardcore hoodoo being used. We thought it was to ward things off. Maybe it's to keep things in? That's what you think, right? Something's stitching this place up? The roaches get in, but they don't get out?"

"Actually, nothing should be able to get in," Rose said quickly. "Something failed. And we're going to recreate that failure to get out."

The Doctor held out his second spray pack. "This chemical is stable until it is ignited. That being said, a big enough spark could set it off. So you need to be careful if you have flints or lighters or matches. Actually, best leave them here."

Rose handed her pack to Sam. The Doctor handed off another to Dean. Jeet joined them, "I'll take that last one." 

"But, we need to coat the bottom floor," Rose said.

"I'm going with you. Me and Slade," she said. "You said we're getting to a capsule, like an escape pod?"

"Well, yes," The Doctor said. "Well, no. It's... complicated. Look, the important thing is that we do this now."

"How much time do you need to get it ready once we're inside?" Slade asked.

"Five, ten minutes," he replied. 

"What's on the door?" Jeet asked.

"A kangaroo," Rose replied.

"You and JD here need to prep that capsule," Slade said. "Jeet and I can take this bottom floor. I'll take on of those shotgun things – "

"Oh, you will?" Dean asked.

"Yes, I will!" Slade replied. "So if anything tries to attack us, we'll be covered."

"You can't fire a gun anywhere near this stuff!" The Doctor protested. 

"Well, then I won't if she's sprayed it," Slade said. "I'll use this otherwise." He held up a chain.

"Fine, that settles it. Dean and I take the top floor," Sam said. "Sage, your job is the same, you get Castle there safely."

Sage looked up at him weakly and nodded. "Yes, I can do that."

Dean hazarded a doubtful glance at Sam. "You need to be standing up to do that," he said to Sage. 

Sage stood up, regaining his composure in an instant. The Doctor cast a sideways glance at the mystery man, and Sam couldn't help his skeptical expression.

"What are we? Chopped suey?" Vincent asked, indicating Molls.

"You two lead the way," Sam said. 

Molls and Vincent traded glances and nodded to one another. They started toward their bags.

"JD," Slade said. "Some of us have seen things that might be from the future." 

"Really, we're going to do this now?" The Doctor asked.

"Now is all we have!" Slade protested. "My question is, if we've seen something, does that mean it will definitely happen?"

"Time can be rewritten," The Doctor replied. "I've done it before. So whatever you've seen, if you think it's your future, there's no reason for it to be, you understand?"

"We're ready, let's blow this popsicle stand," Dean said.

"Popsicle stand? Really?" Sam commented.

As they moved towards the door, Castle spotted something over the large awning. The broken glass and hail and wet obscured most of her vision, but she saw it clear as day: a large bell. 

"Time can be rewritten," Castle echoed. 

She grabbed her staff and scrambled towards Vincent and Molls, who had turned back at the sound of Castle's approach. 

"Move!" Castle shouted as she crashed headlong into them, throwing both of them off their feet and down to the ground just as the sound of a bell began.

"Castle!" Slade yelled. 

"Stop," The Doctor said, pulling him back. "It's too late."

From the angle, he could see Castle's vacant eyes. Her entire midsection had been worn down, as if from her chest to her pelvis had been pulverized. The Doctor held up his detector. "Time decay," he said. "A trapped instant of time that causes rapid deterioration and aging. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"She saved us," Vincent said. "We saw, earlier... we saw us under this bell. Our bodies became corpses, frozen in place. Oh, God, is that what happened to her?"

"Only part of her," Rose said. "She saved your lives, don't let it be in vain."

Both Molls and Vincent moved towards Castle.

"Don't touch her," The Doctor said. "That decay can still affect you."

"I just want to close her eyes," Molls said.

Dean grabbed Molls and pulled her away. "They're right. We can't help her, and there's no time. You two are suppose to lead the way upstairs. Door with giraffe. Now, go!"

Vincent took Molls's hand; they raised their iron bars and ran for it. Sage raced out after them.

"We'll cover this room," Sam said to Jeet. "You guys still have to do those two long halls on either side. We'll get the main hall and the rest of this room."

"Don't do any rooms around the door with the kangaroo," Rose reminded them. "Do that bit last, okay?"

With one solid nod of agreement, Rose and The Doctor ran back towards the ship. 

"Can I have a knife?" Slade asked Dean. "Nothing fancy, just something to sharpen a stick or something."

Dean produced a rough old hunting blade. "This thing looks craggy, but it's not. I'm assuming you won't be getting it back to me."

"Probably not," Slade said as he stowed it. He and Jeet ran out next, leaving Sam and Dean to coat the lobby.

"You get a bad feeling?" Dean asked Sam. "About Sage, I mean."

"This whole place seems intent on keeping him here," Sam said. "And he knows it."

"You ever heard of anything like this? A kid being trapped, growing to adulthood, but not growing old?" Dean asked. 

"Seems like something an immortal might do," Sam replied. "You think he's not human?"

"I think this getup is a bit extreme, even for a Trickster prank," Dean replied. "And maybe it's not his fault. Maybe this was a trick on his dick father."

"You don't think he's human," Sam said.

"Something's off about him," Dean replied. 

"Yeah, sure," Sam said. "He's been trapped in this hell for centuries. We'd be messed up too."

"Well, I'm glad he's coming back with us. Means we can keep an eye on him," Dean said.

 

"Calling everyone out there who is not undead," a woman's voice came over the com. "This is December. Are we ready?"

The Doctor replied, "We're still calibrating, but everyone's doing something!"

"Well, if that's the case, let me help you out. All the blue lights are for movement. Anywhere marked red is where you need to coat thoroughly for optimal explosion. And the bright green lights are your destinations," December said.

"You are fucking awesome," Dean replied over the com.

"I know," she said simply.

Jeet and Slade made it down to the end of the first long hall, and she started coating the walls marked red. 

"Why did you ask for a knife?" she asked him.

"Oh, it's just a thing," Slade said. "Not important. But just in case."

"You asked him about time," Jeet said. "And then Castle magically understands she can save her friends. Who are you?"

"I'm just a writer," he replied glumly. "And I don't want you to worry. Because I saw something too."

"What?" Jeet said as she finished up the edge. "Slade, what did you see?" 

She turned, but he wasn't there. Jeet didn't hear a door open or shut, so where was he?

"Slade!" she shouted. "Damn it, Slade, where are you?" She tried the coms. "Slade, come in. Slade?"

"You lost Slade?" Sam asked.

"He disappeared," Jeet said defensively over the com. "Oh, no, wait, found him."

If was as if he had dropped back into the room. She wondered if that was how Castle saw the bell appear. Then she shook herself, hard. They didn't have time for this. 

"Slade, come on!" Jeet demanded.

"We stopped him," Slade said quietly. His voice rasped.

Jeet got closer and saw that Slade was covered with scars from a very bad burning. "What – what happened? Slade?" she dropped her bag, but pretty much everything she had was depleted. She saw him tremor, so she grabbed the only thing she had: a medical sheet. "Here, take it."

He wrapped it around himself. "We stopped him," he repeated. 

"Stopped who?"

Slade replied, "That monster was trapped here forever. But we stopped him, Jeet. We did."

"We still have to do the other corridor," Jeet said. "Whatever happens, I promise I'll get you the best medical care possible. You understand me?"

"Go, Jeet."

"I'm not leaving you! You're not dead."

But he disappeared again. She screwed up what little resolve she had left and followed the lights. Bitter tears splashed down her face. She might not have saved anyone else, but she would get JD and Rose the hell out of this place.

 

Dean stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"What?" Sam asked, halfway up the first flight.

"You go ahead," Dean replied. "Someone's gotta do the stairs, and Jeet's lost Slade."

"Dean, we – "

"It'll only take a minute," Dean cut him off. 

Sam rolled his eyes and continued up the stairs. Luckily, the top floor only had one hall, so he immediately saw the others. Molls, Vincent, and Sage had made it to the giraffe door, but none of them had managed to get it open. Sage kept trying while Molls and Vincent kept guard on either side.

"I'll get the stairs, get over to them and get that door," Dean said. 

Sam nearly slid into Molls as he joined them.

"Hello?" Jeet said over the com, her message crackling. "Slade... he's gone. He told me... is behind this. You hear me? We can't... he's..."

The com shuttered harshly. Sam paged back, "Jeet? We didn't get all that. Say again."

But nothing came over the wire. 

Sage stepped away from the door. "Let me take the last of the rooms," he said.

"No way," Sam replied.

"You are stronger than me. Maybe you can get this door to open. I know this place better than anyone. I can get the rest of the rooms."

Sam took off his pack. "Listen, you take this and go as fast as you can. Okay?"

"I'll go with him," Vincent offered.

"No," Sage replied, "enough people have died on my behalf. Please, just, stay alive."

Sage raced down to the far end of the hall, popping into the last room

"We're _not_ doing rooms!" Sam yelled after him.

Sam turned his attention to the stubborn door. He used his shoulder first, but the door wouldn't budge. He tried kicking it in with the same result.

"December! Gwen! The com's are down, and this door is stuck!" he yelled.

His fourth kick hit air, and he nearly collapsed into the antechamber. 

"Sorry about that," Gwen said. "This is all new to me."

Vincent and Molls ran in, and both of them started at the sight of Gwen. 

"You all right?" she asked.

"We're alive," Molls replied. 

"Good, December said your best bet would be to strap in here," Gwen pulled out seats that were like a Murphy bed, folded up into the wall. "There are only three, but there's more room on the command deck."

"Go on," Sam said to Molls and Vincent. "I need to make sure Sage and Dean finish up."

Molls and Vincent strapped in, both looking terrified. Molls took his hand. "We're going home," she said to him. "We're going _home_."

 

The Doctor always had a habit of working frantically at the controls, but he was doing one better now. Rose calibrated the data on the pocket while he moved at lightning speed, assessing and processing and checking. 

"What about – no, no, no. Okay, then it has to be – no, of course not. What cauterizes an area?" he said.

"Those time things," Rose replied. "When I tried to save my Dad. They came in at a wound in time."

"You're right! Oh, brilliant! The only reason that this place is cauterized that it's a big, gapping wound! In three universes no less. Oh, did I tell you today that you're absolutely brilliant?"

December opened up the monitor connection.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" she asked.

"December? What's going on?" Rose asked.

"The coms are down. Listen, I've got the flight programming down, but the energy signature doesn't make sense to me."

The Doctor popped his head into the screen. "A wound in time!" he said. "Across three universes! So big it's been burned off at the edges!"

"Do we know what caused it?"

"Not yet, but we don't need to, we just need to neutralize that energy. The cauterizing agent will break down," The Doctor replied. "I'm working on that bit. Have you separated the ships?"

"When I do, you'll know," December said.

"Hold on, then how – " Rose began.

"Trust me," December replied. "Hit me back once you've got something." The monitor turned off.

 

Sage knew this would happen. Someone would figure it out, but he assumed it would be the two FBI agents. They seemed to know too much to begin with.

Still, it was better this way. Jeet and Slade were far easier prey, and neither of them were traveling with him. So all he had to do was neutralize them. Then he could return upstairs, complete his task, and fly out of this infernal prison forever.

All he had was a large machete, but it would more than do the trick. He blipped himself downstairs into one of the rooms in Jeet's general vicinity. Humans were so predictable. 

He opened the door noiselessly. Her back was turned to him. He readied the machete – 

An odd squelching sound hit him with the unpleasant sensation of splintering pain emanating from his chest. Blood, or the closest thing he had to blood, bubbled out of his mouth as he looked down to see a large wooden stake poking out of him.

"Sage?" Jeet said as she spun around.

Dean thrust the stake in a little more. Sage collapsed to the floor dramatically, revealing Sage.

"What have you done?" Jeet asked Dean. 

"Trickster," Dean said, unperturbed by Sage's grisly remains. 

"How did you know?" Slade asked.

"I didn't," Dean replied. "Not until he busted out of this room. Three seconds ago this dude was upstairs, and he didn't come down past me."

Dean was satisfied Sage was dead, so he started back for the stairs. 

"That man just staked someone through the back because he knew a secret passageway?" Jeet asked Slade.

"He was going to cut off your head," Slade replied, indicating the machete.

Jeet's mind reeled. "You were burned. When I saw you last," she said to Slade. A clicking sound prompted her to ask, "What are you doing?"

Slade didn't bother hiding the flint in his hand. 

"You can't light the fire yet," Jeet protested. "This hall isn't done yet!"

"That will give you time," he said as he got the stake to burn. 

Slade grabbed the machete from the ground and stepped away as Sage began to flounder. His mouth opened, and his scream was like the wailing sound of a wounded animal.

"RUN!" Slade yelled as he took her spray. "He will burn, then this hall, then the fire will spread."

"What about you?" Jeet asked.

"This is me, finishing the story," Slade said. 

Jeet went to grab the pack, but he aimed the spray nozzle at her. "If I have to, I will."

"You wouldn't."

Sage writhed in pain, slashing at the air and nearly knocking into them. 

"Take this," Slade said, handing off the machete, "just in case, now RUN!"

She ran. She paged the com, "Listen to me, you need to get out! The fire has started, and it's getting bigger. You understand? You need to get out!" 

"Jeet, you can't light the fire yet, we're not ready," Sam replied.

"Too late for that now," she replied. "And I didn't light it. It was Slade. He did it to stop Sage. So get your asses out!"

"I ganked Sage," Dean replied over the com. "Stake through the middle takes a Trickster out."

"He started moving," Jeet said. 

"So Slade decided lighting him on fire would kill him?" Dean demanded. 

"What's going on?" The Doctor asked. "December said the coms were down."

Jeet could feel the heat as the fire spread everywhere. Before she ducked into the last hall, she turned to see the farthest walls blanketed with flame and smoke billowing towards her. 

She stumbled, coughing hard, into the door with the kangaroo. It fell open, and she dropped inside.

"Oi, Jeet," Rose said, coming to her side. "Where's Slade?"

"He's... a writer finishing his story," Jeet said. 

Rose started coughing; the smoke was coming in. Jeet tried to get up, but she collapsed, unconscious. Rose dragged her through one more doorway.

"Probably for the best," The Doctor said. "There's an oxygen mask under that bin there," he said to Rose. "And maybe give her a sedative just in case."

"Right, then what?" Rose asked. "Not going to be a smooth flight is it?" She got the mask over Jeet's face.

"No, but, this TARDIS has strap-in seats, look!" He waved at the wall. "And these."

Around the central control unit, six chairs erupted on a runner. 

"Pilot chairs with full mobility!" he said. "Isn't that brilliant!"

Rose shook her head at him, but she smiled. He hadn't looked this much like himself in months. Rose got Jeet situated in the safety chairs, then joined The Doctor by the console.

"Slade?" he asked.

She shook her head. 

"No, I mean, _Slade_!" The Doctor pointed.

Rose turned and saw him outside the door, wrapped in a sheet. He was covered in scars, but a smile was on his face.

"Get in!" The Doctor yelled. 

Slade didn't reply. He grabbed the handle and wrenched the door shut, sealing it off and stopping the smoke. 

"How did he do that?" The Doctor asked. "He just sealed us off from the building. But he can't, it's not - "

"Doctor, the energy signature!" Rose interrupted. 

"Right. December!" he shouted at the screen, and sure enough, the monitor came up.

"Please tell me you have something," she said. 

"No, but... the energy signal, it's fading."

"What do you mean, fading?" she asked.

"Sage," Sam said. "If he was a trapped Trickster, then the hoodoo or curse that locked him in would dissipate - "

"Oi, what?" Rose interrupted. 

"Tricksters are powerful," December said. "If one of them was trapped here for a breech in time, the only thing that would break this place open would be – "

"His death," Sam completed. 

Rose asked, "So, if the signature is fading... does that mean he's dying?"

"But he's not dead," The Doctor said. "December, you have to separate the ships."

"I know," she said sadly. "Good luck, JD and Rose."

"And to you, December."

December winked. "Hold on to your hats." Then the monitor turned off. 

"Rose, grab a seat. You're a pilot now, hey?" he said with a weak smile. "And get ready."

"It's going to be that bad?" Rose asked.

"Oh, I'm not talking about the shaking or anything, I'm taking about all the spinning!" he said. 

They both scrambled for seats as a green light flipped on. "We've got about... three minutes?" The Doctor said. Then the light turned mauve. "Make that two."

 

Sage could feel his insides melting around the stake. His magic was dripping out of him, slowly, and the fire prevented him from healing. But they couldn't get away, not so long as he lived. 

He couldn't see, but this place had been his prison for eons, and he knew its every facet. He was in the center hall. There was less accelerant around him, but as soon as this area ignited, their escape pod would be destroyed. 

He yelled, "You'll all burn! Taking you with me with fire!" His voice echoed throughout the entire pocket, shaking the building like a hailstorm.

Liquid began to evaporate from his body as it came apart. He didn't have any more blood, so now his skin and hair and everything else was peeling away around the stake. Just one more minute of crawling... one more.

 

After he coated the stairs, Dean raced to the end of the top floor's hall and began spraying frantically. 

"Dean, we've got to go!" Sam yelled.

"We haven't finished!" Dean replied.

Dean kept spraying, so Sam ran out after him, tackling him and throwing off his pack. 

"We don't have time, now move!" Sam shouted, dragging his brother back to the door. 

Gwen slammed it shut behind them. "Not enough time to strap in, so get to the flight deck, go!"

Sam and Dean pushed through and stopped inside the door. 

"What?" Sam said, looking up at the cavernous inside.

Gwen pushed them both, hard. "Seats, now!"

December had already strapped in to one of the pilot's chairs. "She's right, let's go! Oh, very, very, very bad!" December said as the three humans strapped in. 

"What? What's bad?" Dean asked.

"The doors have been breeched," she said. 

"By what? More skeletons?" Sam asked.

"Something is breaking in right now," she said. "I have to separate the ships, so get ready. Oh, and there are vomit bags under your seats. Don't puke on my console."

"Vomit bags?" Dean asked just as the chairs whirled viciously around the controls.

 

Just as Sage rounded the corner, mere feet from the door, something seized his legs. What were left of his eyes saw that two skeletons had crawled in under the smoke, and both of them were holding him back.

"Let go!" he screamed. "LET GO!"

Then a tremendous splash cascaded around him. He turned and saw the scarred visage of one Slade Kilgore, who had just doused him with the remaining accelerant. 

Slade smiled and closed his eyes, as if ready to fly. 

Sage began to scream, but the sound never left his throat. The fire caught him, and the amount of accelerant around him was so great that he exploded. The walls that had not burned ignited and shattered, thrusting the flame out across the whole of the pocket universe, burning everything in its wake.

The ash of Slade Kilgore rushed out into the Trine of his own universe, along with those of Candice York, Toben Harwell, Remy Greenberg, Molly Sanderson, and Vincent 'Vince' Pierce. Their last voyage had brought them home.

 

River spotted an enormous spike. The Doctor jumped to and was out the door before she could stop him.

They arrived just in time to see a rush of dust surge into the empty area. 

"Ash," River said. "It's all ash."

"The pocket, it's gone," The Doctor said. 

"So that means they're out?" River asked.

"Yes, but alive?" The Doctor said. "That I don't know."

 

December had no issue with rotation, but Dean hated it with a fiery passion. The ships separated, allowing for an enormous energy release on top of the explosion that occurred almost simultaneously. 

"Here we go!" December shouted as she engaged transfer home. 

Usually the TARDIS shook around because of bad settings, but in this case, it was crashing into the edges of the universe. 

Molls and Vincent both closed their eyes as the antechamber shivered violently. 

"We're going home," Vincent asserted. 

"Home," Molls echoed. "Straight through the storm!"

Vincent laughed so loudly that Molls caught it, the contagion of joy filling her up. 

"They're laughing?" Sam said, hearing them from the flight deck. "They're laughing?"

Gwen joined them, and soon Sam did, too, leaving December and Dean the only conscious passengers remaining quiet.

 

The Doctor and Rose felt the TARDIS jerk upwards, as if fired out of a canon. 

"We're split," he said as the mauve light went out. "And we're going!" he shouted, frantically and gleefully grabbing at the controls.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Rose asked.

"We're headed for home!" he said. "Allons-y!"

 

Everything stopped. The antechamber stopped shaking, the command center became still, and even the laughter died out. 

"We made it," December said. "We are... Earth. Zolfo Springs, Florida. Right outside the Trine. Same day and time as your watch," she said to Sam.

"That's when we went into the Trine," Sam protested. "Are you saying no time at all has passed?"

"Not on earth," she replied. "Obviously it has for us. Come on you lot, this is your stop."

Dean turned to Gwen as he unstrapped himself. "What will you do?" he asked. "Will you take over Castle's life here?"

Gwen shook her head. "December said I could come with her. So I will. Someone's got to look after Remy, after all."

"Remy?" Sam said. 

"He's in the stasis chamber till I can stabilize him," December added. "It would be unwise for either of them to return to Earth."

"So, what, you're going to live on the moon or something?" Sam asked.

"Don't be daft," December replied. "My outpost is on Venus."

"Seriously?" Dean asked.

December smiled. "Think of me as a guardian angel."

Sam laughed, hard. "Sorry, we already have one of those. He's currently in an insane asylum, but that job is still taken."

"Have it your way," December said, leaving them to the door. "Go on, off you pop."

Dean opened it and found that they were at their motel where they parked the Impala. 

"What happened to the antechamber?" Dean asked.

Molls and Vincent wandered onto the flight deck from a smaller door across the way.

"It moves to a more secure position during flight," December explained. 

"The room moves?" Dean asked.

December nodded. "Well, go on, you four," she said. "You're home."

Gwen and December waved them all off. Dean and Sam both stared at the outside of the ship, which looked like the average port-a-potty.

"Don't ask," December said as she shut the door. 

The ship disappeared.

"Uh, agents?" Molls asked. "You think you could give us a lift?" she asked.

"And a story that makes sense," Vincent added. "Something that... well, really anything we can actually tell other people."

"You got it," Dean replied.

 

Jeet opened her eyes. 

"Agent Bindiya," a voice said. "Can you hear me?"

It was an EMT responder. She was already being moved into the ambulance. 

"Where's Rose and JD?" she asked. 

"They're fine, we're – " the EMT began.

"No, I need to talk to them – " 

A brief struggle ensued. 

"Oi, let her be," Rose said. "Jeet, you okay?"

"Yeah, are we – are we – "

"We made it," The Doctor replied. "Neutralized the problem and got out safely."

"What about the pod? I don't remember it," she replied.

"It got us here," Rose said, "but it was badly damaged when we escaped. We managed to get out right at landing before it burned."

"It burned?" she said sadly.

"The energy was too much for it," The Doctor replied. 

"So we've got no evidence of what happened?" Jeet asked.

"Well," The Doctor said. "We do have these."

He held up two identical digital cameras. "I've got some neat tech I can use to clean up the images."

"What are those?"

"This one was made by Dawn Redding," Rose said. "It's sort of a documentary."

"This other one? We found it before we left. I think Slade Kilgore made it."

"But... he... how could he have? He died," Jeet whispered.

"When did he die?" The Doctor asked. "In that pocket, he could've had years. I think this baby is gonna tell us everything we need to know."

"Yeah, but will you tell me?" she asked.

"Full report," Rose said. "We promise."

"Really?"

"Least we can do," The Doctor said. "You saved us, after all."

"Not all of us," she said, dropping back to the bed, defeated.

The Doctor waved for the EMT to come back.

Rose said, "Get better, Jeet."

The EMT rolled his eyes. "Finally, this woman needs medical care," he said as his partner came around and helped him with the bed.

 

The Doctor and Rose waved Jeet off in the ambulance. As it disappeared down the road, Rose took his hand. 

"Dad already sent a jet," Rose said.

"Did it pick us up yet?" The Doctor asked.

"In about ten minutes the plane will be leaving with us on it, yeah," Rose replied, stowing her phone with a wicked smile. 

"Well, then, we'd better get on with it." 

They both walked over to the SUV they arrived in. "Swanky," Rose said, nodding to the design. "Very... sleek."

"She's a beaut," The Doctor replied. 

Rose took the back door, and The Doctor took the front. They both stepped inside.

The new TARDIS had a similar console to the other one. "Newer model," he said. "Fully functioning chameleon circuit, with a nuanced perception filter tuned for you and me."

"Meaning, it won't affect us?" she asked.

"Oh yes!" he said, bolting to the flight deck. "This is – Rose, this is – "

"Fantastic?" Rose suggested.

 

December released Remy, who now resembled something like an anthropomorphic wolf, but his features were still so very human. 

"Remy?" she said. "Are you all right?"

He blinked. "You know my name?"

"Yes, how do you feel?"

"I'm... not in pain anymore."

"I stabilized you," December said. "I... did everything I could, but I can't make you human again. Not physically."

"Castle?" he said, spotting the other passenger.

"Actually, it's Gwen. I'm not your Gwen, or Castle. She... she's not here. I'm from the other universe."

"I could put you back on Earth," December said, "but it's not a great idea."

"Then what?" he asked.

"You can come with me," December replied. "With us," she indicated Gwen. "I travel around a lot. You could come with me."

"Looking like I am?" Remy asked.

"You look smashing!" December said. "You just don't think so because you've never been to another planet before. You'd be the take on any planet in the Chien Chain or the Delta Galaxy."

"I guess that'd be okay," Remy said. "But we're not in that place anymore?"

"No, we're free," Gwen replied.

"Then where are we now?" he said, exploring the room. "A hospital?"

"No, you're on my space ship. Her name is December."

Gwen gave a look of confusion. "Sorry, I thought _your_ name was December?"

"Oh, that's because of that label there by the stasis chamber," she dismissed. "Common mistake, but I don't mind."

"Wait, then what is your name?" Gwen asked.

"I'm The Doctor," she replied with a smile. "Welcome aboard!"

"Doctor, isn't that what Rose called JD?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, he was my duplicate," she replied casually.

"But... you're completely different," Gwen replied. 

"In looks alone," she replied. "Now, we can go anywhere and to any time, but before we do anything else, small errand."

Remy asked, "What's that? A space errand?"

"I've got one very important message to deliver to my people," she said, moving to the flight deck with Remy and Gwen in her wake. 

"So, shall we say – for good measure - Geronimo and Allons-y!"

 

"We should really check in with your mum and dad before we go anywhere," The Doctor said to Rose. 

"'Fraid she might slap you again, huh?"

"Worse than that," The Doctor replied. 

"Be honest. Do you wanna go back to traveling?" she asked.

"Hmmm," The Doctor said. "I dunno. We both have jobs now. Can't just flit off. Well, not all the time. Well, not till we set up a system so we can get home on time. Well - "

Rose pulled him into a kiss. 

"That settles it," he said. 

The monitor turned on.

"Oi, a message," Rose said. "You think this is from December?"

"Could of done, yeah," The Doctor said as he opened it.

December's face appeared. "Ah, JD, or The Doctor, and Rose. So that whole prophecy thing – that you thought was a bit moot – well, you were right. Small lie. Well, not really a lie. More of a half-truth. I owe you everything. Who knew something so horrific would be the key to the survival of the Time Lords?"

"What?" Rose asked.

The message played on. "It wasn't a prophecy, but a memory. From a Time Lord in another universe. About how our people faced calamity and became as monstrous as the things they wanted to defeat. And about how one of us stopped them anyway. Along with the memory of another race, not so different from us, who spread out to every star in the universe, marrying into the other races, evolving and making new species. Those people became the glue of the universe, the great survivors that stayed even till its end, fighting to survive into the next."

"Doctor, what is she talking about?" Rose asked.

"I can't believe it," he whispered.

"Also, on that pocket universe," she said. "You were quantum linked to that other version of yourself. But my universe? It didn't get there by accident. Your quantum connection, plus the energy of that place, plus a smidge of DNA... well, not technically a quantum link since our atoms never touched, but the general dynamic is there. Figured you'd go mad trying to figure out it. Because I would." She winked. "Safe travels to you both." The message ended.

The Doctor's eyes were wide. Rose couldn't tell if it was fear or joy or both.

 

Sam and Dean took stock. 

"So that's two shotguns, an ass load of iron, two stakes, oh, and both our suits," Dean said, ticking off everything they'd lost or left behind.

"Not to mention Vince, Castle, Molly – " Sam began.

"You don't think I know that?" Dean cut him off.

"Sage is gone," Sam said. "One less dick Trickster on our hands."

"I guess."

"What's wrong with you?" Sam asked. 

"I dunno, Sammy," Dean said. "Maybe I just told Dawn Redding that most of her friends died horrible, bloody deaths. Maybe I just figured out that we've lost some of our most valuable stuff with Dick Roman so far up our asses that he needs a flashlight! Maybe I'm tired of being screwed left, right, and center, only to find out that other people are sitting on the freaking sidelines, doing nothing."

"You mean December?" Sam asked.

"Aliens aren't real," Dean replied. "I don't care about parallel universes or any of that crap. Aliens. Aren't. Real. Which means she's been around, with that technology, while the Apocalypse – "

"You don't know that," Sam interrupted. "And maybe it was for a reason. Maybe she can't get involved unless she's asked."

"You mean, she can see shit's happening, but can't do anything until someone asks her? Oh, but we can't! Because conveniently no one knows she's there? You mean like that?"

Sam smiled.

"What?" Dean demanded.

"I, uh, got Gwen to keep one of my phones," Sam said. 

"Meaning, what?"

"Meaning, we can call her," Sam replied. "And she's with December on that ship thing, whatever it was."

"You sly bastard."

"I just figured, with Cas in the hospital, we might need some backup."

Dean shook his head. "You think she'll help?"

"Can't hurt to try," Sam replied.

 

"Doctor?" Rose said, putting her hand on his. He hadn't said anything for several minutes.

"She must be related to me," he said. "Over there."

"Is that bad?"

"No, but... it means that we caused it."

"Oi, no we didn't," Rose said. "That... Sage. Whoever or whatever he was. Something stuffed him in there."

"But we opened it to others," The Doctor said quietly. "That's why they're all dead. She went there with her ship. We went in there. Even old me showed up and caused complete devastation on Earth, killing who knows how many." His voice broke.

"Maybe," Rose said. "But all that, it led to saving the Time Lords in another universe. That's not nothing," she replied. "And it's not like you planned to do any of it. It just... happened."

"My memories of the last Great Time War, and my memories of you," he said. "Guess they'll do more now than haunt me."

Rose thwapped him hard on the back.

"What was that for?" he said loudly.

"Oh, snap out of it, will you?" she said. "We just finished our first Torchwood mauve alert. Got a new ship. Saved some people, stopped a Trickster thing from escaping and doing untold damage across the planet, fixed two universes, and your memories just made a third one a better place. Now I say, that's a good day, and I won't have you say otherwise. You got that?"

"Yes, sir!" he said, a smile forming on his face. 

He kissed her again, leaning his forehead into hers. 

"Now, first we'll stop home, we need a change of clothing," she said. "Then, we're taking a holiday."

"Allons-y!" he said, grabbing the controls.

After a few seconds, he said, "I hope she sent a message to old me and River."

"Can't we?" Rose asked.

"The walls have closed," he said. 

"You mean, for now," Rose replied.

"Yeah, the walls have closed for now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
>  **Cosmological Constant** (Theory of Relativity)  
>        n. an arbitrary constant originally conceived as the quantified vacuum energy density

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Illustrations for Entanglement](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2471048) by [dracox_serdriel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracox_serdriel/pseuds/dracox_serdriel)




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